Kintsugi
by 7th Librarian
Summary: You are a broken man, Lyrius Stormcloud. You have lived too long and cared too much about the evil you loved as a wife All you have left is that worn battered body of yours, the kindness of strangers and all the trouble that could ever want to kill you. But you've been dead a thousand years, old man. Time to learn how to live. Part of the Shadowchaser series by Occam's Razor.
1. These Three Guys Walk Into A Bar

Kintsugi  
By 7th Librarian

A/N: _Hello and welcome to my latest project. For those of you not in the know, this story is set about a week after Occam Razor's 'Shadowchasers' story and thus after the Dark Signer arc of Yu-gi-oh! 5Ds. If 'Shadowchasers' is unfamiliar to you, that is fine. Reading that one is not necessary to understand this one._

 _For those of you who read my work and watch as I fail to update in a timely fashion, fear not. This story is actually completed and is simply in the editing process so updates will happen regularly on a weekly basis. I assure it will be so._

 _For everyone else, please read, review and enjoy!  
_

Chapter 1: So These Three Guys Walk into a Bar

"We had another incident last night."

"You know, most people start with 'good morning'."

A pair of dark eyes blinked at the pleasant tone. "A number of homes three streets over were looted, and one was set on fire. The blaze took half the night to put out."

"I know, Lyrius. I treated the burns earlier while you were off...doing...whatever it is you do when you are not here."

"Investigating the sightings of the 'Duel Ghost' that has cropped up since the Dark Signers were defeated."

"Find anything concrete?"

"Cement."

Stunned silence. "You just made a joke. Isn't that one of the signs of the apocalypse?"

"This is a serious matter. The violence in this area has risen every day since the Dark Signers were defeated. The outpouring of dark magic is attracting all manner of the supernatural."

"Mmm."

"The danger here is getting worse than it was with the Dark Signers. Small brushfires of magic and darkness that could erupt into a small war. You are not safe here."

"This is Satellite. I never really was. It still is my home." Came the pleasant response.

"If you are not to deal with the conversation you initiated with the appropriate gravitas…"

"All I asked you is what was on your mind when I handed you the cake. It's called a conversation starter."

"The topic is not clearly one you want to discuss, so just say so."

"But I do want to talk to you."

"Then stop eating the cake and pick a satisfactory topic."

"One, I didn't say that I want to talk about this, Lyrius. Two, I find this kind of cake is the best warm. It melts the ice cream just right."

"Miss Shizuka…"

"Serenity, please. I know you're trying, but you don't speak Japanese well enough to not mangle my name. Even if it is cute when you try." She gave him a motherly smile. The kind made wrinkles and graying red hair of age well-earned badges of a life long lived and well laughed. The kind that came from the eyes and warmed every heart, then drizzled just enough guilt over the top to make feel like a horrible person if you did anything to spite that warmth.

His honor demanded that Lyrius _not_ eat the cake because he had spent the last two days in her house, giving her nothing in return as she took care of him and it was clear the cake was made for him, using resources better spent on herself given the apartment's age showing to the point calling it old would have moved it up an age bracket. The dishes were cracked, weathered and the fridge was so bare it was sterile of even crumbs. Even the 'patio' they were sitting at was dirt vainly hemmed in by weeds masquerading as flowers. To eat the cake would be to take from her more than she could offer safely to maintain her own health.

His honor (or, he mused, perhaps, guilt. In a thousand years, the two words had never managed to end their parasitic symbiosis) demanded he eat the cake because she _had_ given it to despite limited resources. It was very kind, sweet gesture and refusing it was an insult of the highest magnitude. Serenity had been so happy while making it, humming and cheerful beyond her usual smiles. To decry her hard work by not picking up his fork and devouring the slice in front of him was to murder her happiness.

His horse, caring nothing for the struggle of his morals and seeing her master having unguarded food, nearly stole the entire thing with a deft swipe of her head. Only Lyrius' fork skewering the cake so hard it quivered in place stopped that wide-open muzzle from devouring the dessert whole.

And even then, Resonae still looked like she was simply contemplating if she was going to have to use the fork or if eating it was a bonus.

Serenity laughed, snorting some of her milk up her nose. Fumbling for a napkin, she wiped out the mess off her face barring the smile it had brought. "You two are glaring at one another like it's a grudge match! Cake or death!"

She cracked up again, apparently at something only she quite got. Lyrius' stormy eyes narrowed and Resonae backed off to sullenly munch away at the weeds and grass of the surrounding lot. Finding Serenity was still wrapping up her giggling fit, Lyrius cut into the cake with his fork and took a bite.

It was delicious and warm and chocolate and that ice cream did melt just so. It was the first thing he could recall in many years that had not come out of a can or packaging. Decades of measured restraint was the only thing keeping him from abandoning the fork entirely for his hands and his honor gawked at the fact he was already having thoughts of seconds.

Said honor, however, reversed its tune when he realized Resonae was eyeing the plate and suggested that it might a telling, if ill-mannered, victory to lick it clean first. His mount was still rather sore about having been wrestled into submission just mere weeks ago and had recently gotten petty revenge by tackling him in 'happiness' when he had gotten home the other day. His revenge was best served warm in this case.

But there was more cake to be had at the present and Lyrius continued his systematic, surgical carving of the treat apart. It was a solid cake, even when warm and none of the four alternating layers of chocolate fluff and chocolate bliss wavered.

Why she had given it four layers had struck him as odd, given it was just a simple cake and Serenity's reply upon his query that 'it was a nice, fun thing to do'.

Which, he decided, was drove her. Kindness for its sake. She had cut a small portion of the cake and was already trying to coax Resonae to come back over to eat it. "Come here, dear. You can have some. There's enough to share."

Resonae did not need much prompting to return and gaze the woman a thankful nuzzle, before devouring the slice in a few bites. Serenity smiled as another nuzzle left her wiping chocolate horse slobber off her cheek, though it faded a bit when she saw Lyrius looking. "Sorry. I know I probably shouldn't have, but she's just such a beautiful horse and so smart. She knows I just melt with I see those sad eyes…"

Lyrius flicked his gaze over Resonae, who was looking far more smug than a horse should have been capable of at the praise. But while Serenity saw a beautiful black mare, he saw Resonae as she truly was. Wickering dark blue and black 'flames' made up her mane and tail, wreathing her hooves so that she appeared to be perpetually walking on flames. A golden horn spiraled delicately from her forehead and her tongue was poking out to lick the plate clean between fangs, not teeth. A Nightmare _was_ smart enough to pull the puppy-dog eyes to get their way with a human.

But Nightmares normally didn't have such weak flames that spluttered like a dying campfire and telltale signs of ribs emerging against her coat. Lyrius pushed his plate towards his mount. "Resonae has done more work than I have recently with all the rides she gives to the children. Let her have the lion's share. And at our age, too much cake lends only ill will to our bodies, yes?"

"But I made it with love, Lyrius. And that just means it's extra good for you." To prove her point, Serenity helped herself and Resonae to another slice. "Those tired eyes you have means you generally haven't had enough of love lately. Why is that?"

There wasn't an answer he could give that wouldn't validate her point, so Lyrius chose silence and busied himself with cleaning up.

She gratefully passed him her plate even as Resonae pointedly kept licking away at hers. "Not having an answer is kind of rude. Even if you are possibly literally older than dirt as you say you are, doesn't excuse it."

Lyrius simply put the dishes in kitchen sink and pulled out saran-wrap to cover the rest of the cake.

A good-natured sigh. "I know you're not good with people and that's okay. You just said, however, loneliness is a sickness that leads to death with such certainty and I'm pretty sure the medication for that sickness is talking to others."

Lyrius nodded.

A balled-up napkin bounced off his head. "Talk. For me?"

"There was another murder last night."

"Murder?" Serenity grimaced lightly. "You sure about that?"

"The victim was found under some of the rubble that was being cleared."

"Not unnatural given we had giant magical kaiju smashing through the city just last week."

"She was found with this clenched in her hand." Lyrius produced as necklace from his pocket - a cheap wiry length of thread with a single silver oval of metal dangling from it.

"That's...a cartouche." Serenity quickly crossed the room and took it from him, examining it carefully. "I can't tell you what it says, but I know one when I see it. My brother and his friends all got them a few years after that magical stuff. Renewal of their friendship.. Egyptians used them to write down names like a mini memorial tablet. You carried that portion of that person's spirit with you when you had it."

Lyrius nodded. "That only confirms what I was afraid of. Look at the back."

Serenity did so, wincing at it. Forcibly and sloppily etched into the metal were symbols she did not recognize. Compared to the gentle and detail-orientated etchings on the front, these hard, angular and angry. "What are these?"

"Seals. They connect that cartouche to something else. I would hazard to say that whenever that woman dueled, a portion of her spirit was siphoned through that piece of metal."

Serenity closed her eyes and let out a quiet breath. "Why would she ever do something like that?"

"Fear. The people of Satellite have so little to their names except their names. The Dark Signers and their soul-consuming mist...anyone offering protection could easily find willing followers."

"You are magical," Serenity said. "Can you trace those seals or sense their creator, or anything like that?"

"It is not that simple."

"Never is…" the doctor sighed again, before planting both hands on the table and pushing both her legs - one flesh and bone, one metal - into a stand. "Come on. This is far too serious for my kitchen table. The sugar and all this dreary news has made me antsy. Let's go out."

"Out…" Lyrius frowned. "To where?"

"Wherever our feet take us. We can explore Satellite."

"Exploring the wrecked wasteland and slums.." Lyrius deadpanned. "Fascinating."

Serenity rolled her eyes. "There's not anything else to do. Now, come on, doctor's orders."

TTTTTTT

"I could have walked."

Night was falling, the spreading shadows doing much to mask the dirt, rust and scars that so permeated Satellite. It made the polluted air masking the stars and brackish smell of dirtied water a bit more bearable.

"You could have. But you are not."

"Oh well, this is closest thing I'll ever get to owning my own pony." Serenity, atop the Nightmare's back, patted Resonae's neck affectionately. "You sure I can't keep her if you do leave? She's just so adorable..."

"You may not." Walking alongside them, Lyrius could not help but smile as the Nightmare whined in what seemed like embarrassment.

"I don't know how you're going to get her off of Satellite, though. Or even how you got her into Japan."

"Magic."

"Mmhmm." Serenity watched him walk for a minute. " you put me on here in case we get attacked, because she can run away better than I can, didn't you?"

"Yes."

"Are you that concerned about everything?"

"Except the best, prepare for the worst."

"So charming…" Serenity shook her head. " Do you want to talk about anything else?"

"No."

"That's all there really is to do here. We live in the slums and a dump."

"We could play Duel Monsters."

"I haven't dueled in years and there's still some of the Duel Gangs lurking around. Not worth the trouble." Serenity tugged at Resonae's mane gently and the Nightmare stopped walking, giving her a snort. "Ooh, third option. We try and get drunk."

Lyrius stopped as well, giving her a curious look. "There is alcohol in this place?"

"Of a sort. It's rock gut and homebrewed, but it's safer than the water some days." Serenity dismounted, careful to avoid putting all her weight on her mechanical leg. The building in front of them was dilapidated as the rest of Satellite, but was sturdy and graffitied enough that it served well as a bar and modern art display. A piece of relatively clean sheet metal nailed above the door proclaimed it ' _The Tar Pit.'_ "C'mon. Let's go."

"We have little money." Lyrius reminded her. He gestured to Resonae and the Nightmare settled herself down in an alley.

"Not a problem. I know the owner." Serenity ducked through the flap of cloth that served as the door. "Rex? You here?"

There was a shifting noise from one of the booths and then a yawn. "'Snot like I'd be anywhere else, training wheels."

"Can we get something to drink, please?" Serenity wriggled into a booth, sweeping some dust off it as Lyrius sat opposite her.

"Sure, sure." Tumbling lazily to his feet was a short man in tan pants, shirt and vest. All three had seen better days, possibly only a few more than their weary-faced owner. Tufts of graying brown hair poked out from underneath his beanie. "You want the stuff that doubles as paint-peeler or the stuff that cleans out ovens?"

"The good stuff."

"Right. Washes the glass itself." Rex slipped behind the worn bar and pulled a couple of mugs before rummaging through an array of bottles on the back shelf. Grabbing one at random with a grunt of satisfaction, he poured the two mugs and presented them to his patrons. "Here you are."

"Thank you." Lyrius took his and feeling the expectant gazes on them, took a drink. The liquor lived up to Rex's description. It was bitter and burned his throat raw Even after he set the mug down, breathing felt like he was preparing to spew fire. "Stimulating."

Serenity laughed while Rex rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, so tough you're drinking my brew with a straight face." Returning behind the bar, he dug around and then tossed a bag of chips there way. "Here. We're out of pretzels."

"Thank you." Serenity popped the bag and poured the chips into an empty plate. Seizing a handful, she pushed it towards her companion and then cocked her head at him. "Lyrius?"

Lyrius was carefully turning his mug over in his hands. The porcelain creation had clearly been broken at least once before and rebuilt. Gold resin sealed the cracks over, but it was sloppy - running his thumb over it was like hitting a speed bump and there was a gritty feel to it. It still felt solid and obviously held up, but it puzzled him. "Why use these mugs? I know supplies are difficult, but drinking vessels are hardly in short supply?"

" _Kintsugi._ " Rex replied without looking up for where he was cleaning out a clean mug with a clean rag.

Lyrius frowned. "I do not know what that is."

"Cultural thing. It's the art of repairing broken things without attempting to hide it was broken. Everything wears it scars proudly, so to speak." Rex caught Lyrius' curious expression. "Case you hadn't noticed, friend, Satellite isn't exactly a well-to do place. Most people who end up here are broken or cracked or chipped in some way. Bad luck, lost a duel to the wrong guy, did some bad shit and are trying to hide, scared of something. Whatever the reason, they wind up in the junk heap with the rest of us."

Rex settled himself on a barstool as he worked. "Funny thing is, we all still live here. Sure, most people want to get out to Tops and all, but in the meantime, we build our lives out here. Doesn't matter what we did before, we have to work with what we have to build something better. And even though it is all built out of garbage and leftovers, our pride's still in it. It's ours, after all."

"But Yusei Fudo and his Signer compatriots defeated the Dark Signers that lurked here. They are finally connecting this place and the rest of the city." Lyrius gestured out one of the windows. It provided a clear view of the skyline the wealthier Tops part of the city provided and even closer, the ongoing construction of the massive arching Daedalus Bridge. "If they truly intend to rebuild Satellite as they announced, everything will be different."

"Not the people." Rex countered. "We're just as scuffed up and repaired as anything else in this place. Except we'll be using hope and friends as bonding agents instead of resin. So even if they level this place and make everything new and shiny, all it means we can just make it our own again. Put a little character on everything."

"I think it's something to look forwards to." Serenity put, fishing some more chips out of the bag. "People need things to have hope for. Rebuilding the city will give them room to hope to dream again."

"Since this reconstruction is coming, what would dreams would the two of you wish to have if you were not so disadvantaged?" Lyrius took another pull of his drink and wondered if he could get a bottle to use to sterilize wounds with. Or burn his enemies.

Rex shrugged. "Eh. Spruce the joint up a bit, get a proper door. Some actual liquor. Hire someone taller than me to be bouncer."

"I want to have a garden. Maybe some fruit trees." Serenity smiled at the thought. "The kids come around so often for cake and things. I feel bad just giving them sugar all the time."

"There's precious little of it, training wheels. Treats are better when they're rare, like Duel Monsters." Rex shot her a look. "Just make sure they get some _after_ they come here. You get them all hyped up on sugar and I waste time trying to settle them down."

"Oh, they're just eager to learn, Rex." Serenity corrected. "You're a good teacher and it's nice for them to have a place to play without having to worry about the Duel Gangs."

Rex muttered something under his breath and went a little red, prompting Serenity to giggle.

"Why do you not wish for more?" Lyrius was curious again. "I have heard many people discussing the topic of what do once the bridge is done and many say they wish to leave or find their fortunes elsewhere."

His two companions were silent, then Serenity spoke up. "I lived through the Zero Reverse...and I lost what I had of my friends and family in the aftermath. And so did so many others. But I at least had my medical skills and knowledge. I did a lot to help everyone I could, because I couldn't get rid of my oaths."

She shrugged with a smile. "Providing for everyone was my way of _kintsugi_ , I guess. Helping everyone helped me put myself back together. It's too much of who I am to just stop, you know?"

"Yes. That is very noble of you." Lyrius said honestly. "And strong. Your kindness in the face of despair is something I wish I had."

Serenity flushed at the praise and embarrassedly waved at him to look at Rex. The bartender put down his mug and reached back behind the bar, pulling out a bottle and pouring himself some. "I washed up here, more or less. Wasted a lot of my life trying turn back the clock and recapture my fifteen minutes of fame. Burnt myself up doing a lot of bad things. And stupid ones."

He took a swig, screwed up his face determination and swallowed. The shudder traveling through his body suggested he was drinking the same thing Serenity and Lyrius were. "Wound up making homemade moonshine to get myself plastered with so I could forget it all and then realized there was a lot of people just like me here who needed it. So I just took this place and made it mine. It's a living, now and I like hearing the stories everyone brings in. Hell, even the talk about duels is just as fiery and fierce as anything on the Pro Circuits."

Rex smirked a little, presumably at his past self. "I got everything I thought I wanted, when I needed it it, ya dig? Got some fame, got some fans and got some self-respect. No reason change it."

"I see…" Lyrius nodded slowly and looked at the table.

"What about you?" Rex waved his glass at Lyrius. "You look like you've got a lot of stories to tell. Tired eyes have to have a reason to be tired, right?"

"Yes." Lyrius didn't elaborate further.

"He was a king once." Serenity supplied. "He's over a thousand years old."

"Really really?" Rex's eyebrow jumped into his bangs, but fell as Serenity just nodded reassuringly. "Alright then."

There was a roar of an poorly muffled motor suddenly and it went from annoying to cacophonous as it pulled up to outside the bar. The door flapped from the motor's exhaust and when it was shut off, it gave off a death rattle that lingered painfully. "Rex! You dino dummy! Are you in there?"

Lyrius had to wince, for the voice was impossibly nasal. The entrance curtain was flung aside to reveal a short middle-aged man, with shaggy unkempt hair, and scruffy street clothes. The only part of him that appeared to have been cleaned were the round golden-framed glasses on his nose. It was impossible to miss the way that Rex's back went up the sight of the newcomer. "You've got a lot of nerve wandering in here, roach. Get out before I step on you."

"Hey, that's no way to act to an old friend." The newcomer smiled cockily. "And I've been making you extinct since we were larvae. So don't go thinking you're king of the world, Rex, old boy."

"Fascinating. I have known you all of two minutes and I find myself intensely disliking you." Lyrius was unfazed as the newcomer growled and gave him a glare. "Who is this?"

"Weevil Underwood. And just like his name, you'll find him dark damp disgusting places. He's a cheater at the game and does anything to get ahead." Serenity wrinkled her nose in disgust as Weevil gave her a glare too. "Unfortunately, he's as hard to get rid of as a real roach."

"Can it, losers." Weevil grunted and turned his attention back to Rex. "If Miss Nicety-Nice and Batman Junior are your only customers these days, I don't even know why I'm going to ask you about my new deal. You'll jump aboard."

Rex's expression looked like he would rather be dealing with a real weevil, but then he sighed. "Fine. I'll humor you. Thrill me."

"There's a lot hubbub still going on after the whole Dark Signer thing. Goodwin's gone, Sector Security's a mess and even though they're building the Daedalus Bridge, it seems like Tops is in a huge hurry to dump as much garbage here to Satellite as possible."

"And that has to do with us, why? Wait-" Rex held up a hand as Weevil opened his mouth and chugged his mug, slamming it back onto the bar. "There. I've killed enough brain cells I'm dumb enough to keep listening to you."

Weevil's expression tightened in fury, but then he just gave a chittering laugh. "A lot of the stuff they're dumping is still working out pretty well. Computers, D-Wheel parts, cards, you name it. I've scrounged up some, enough to equip enough duelists to form a force to be reckoned with."

"Eh?" Rex eyed Weevil suspiciously and then slumped back against the bar, shaking his head. "You want to form a Duel Gang? Really? We could barely stick with one when we got here and you think you've got the moxie to actually lead?"

He thrust a finger at Weevil sharply. "Get it through your head - Duel Gangs are done with. Once Satellite is cleaned up, Sector Security will actually start doing their jobs. They're trying to make civilization and you want to play king of the jungle gym on the playground!"

Weevil gave that chittering laugh again. "Rex, you must have a pea-sized brain like your namesake and just as short-sighted, too." He nudged his glasses farther up his face by the bug nosepiece, their lenses glinting malevolently. "Satellite is going through a period of upheaval and we stand to gain a lot if put ourselves on the top. I don't want to form a Duel Gang, I want to form a Duel Army."

Serenity spluttered into her drink so hard she sprayed Lyrius with droplets. If she hadn't been laughing so hard, it could be they were actually sizzling on contact with his skin. "Second verse same as the first, bug brains! There's no difference between on or the other."

"Any idiot can see that. Which is why I've got a few new tricks. The Dark Signers proved that Satellite can't defend itself from anything. But if we banded together under a cunning individual such as myself, we could form our _own_ kind of security. Tops may rebuild this place, but we don't have to let them _stay._ " Weevil grit his teeth in barely restrained fury. "Think of it, Rex. Our success could be our revenge against all those-"

"We were washed up forty years ago, Weevil. And I hung around with your for so long that I couldn't see that we were starving on trying to choke down past glories. Cost me a lot of missed opportunities." Rex stood, using the single inch he had over the other man to its maximum advantage. "You can take your 'offer' and feed it to the bugs like the shit it is."

Weevil looked stunned, like he hadn't even considered Rex would just say 'no' and then his anger returned full force. "You stupid fossil, you just don't have the balls to go big anymore! Content in your rut and waiting for a meteor to fall out of the sky and wipe you out! You aren't living here, you're barely existing!"

"Then why are you the one coming to him for help?" Lyrius finished wiping up the mess on his face and was unperturbed as Weevil rounded on him. "Your plan is nothing of the sort. The basis is simply hoping your force of will and charisma being enough to tempt others to let hold sway over them to feed your ego. You want to be a leader without knowing what it means to _lead._ "

"And what would you know about anything, scrub?" Weevil snarled.

"I know enough of you, Weevil Underwood, that there have been only two things you have ever been successful at: failing to cheat and blaming others. You have no faith in your own strength or skill. Rex has made something of himself, even here in Satellite. You have made _nothing_ except hot air." Lyrius watch as Weevil's fury mounted, the former Pro's face splotched in mottled red that reached even up to his graying blue hair and a muscle above his eye twitched. "You have just become successful at a third thing: Appearing as postmodern art."

Serenity snorted into her drink before breaking into a giggle fit. "Congratulations!"

"Shut your mouth, Wheeler!" Chips scattered across Serenity's face and she let out a small yelp of pain as wooden tray bounced off her head - Weevil had grabbed the nearest thing at hand and thrown it at her. "If it wasn't for your damn brother beating me again and again, I'd have made something of myself! I'm even pissed he's dead, because that means everyone remembers him as a one of 'Big Three' and I can't show him what a real man is!"

He started for Serenity, an ugly look on his face - like his rage and passion couldn't decide which was leading. "But you're here, aren't you? Ruining my plans like ants ruin a picnic! I should show _you_ -"

Something splashed in his face and he stared at her, dumbstruck. Until he blinked and the drink was forced into his eyes. "Ahg god, it burns!"

"Neat. It triples as a drink, cleaner and pesticide." Serenity gave him a shove with her metal leg, sending Weevil into Rex's waiting bear hug.

"Time to go, Weevil." Rex lifted him up and started towards the door.

Then Rex was reeling backwards as Weevil elbowed him in the gut, a slap-like shove sending the bartender sprawling into a booth. "Don't manhandle me, dino dung! You may have gotten soft, but I haven't! I'm stronger than I ever was and I have what it takes!"

"Kay…" Rex stood up and cracked his knuckles. "You need to be reminded how badly I've thrashed you before you start getting too big for your britches."

"Wasn't kidding when I said I'm in the best shape of my life, Rex." Weevil sneered and shucked his jacket, revealing surprisingly well-muscled arms for such a small man. "I may not be several times my own strength like ant, but I'm more than enough for a fossil!"

The two exchanged blows and Weevil laughed as Rex went sprawling again. He switched his gaze to Serenity and took a couple of steps towards her. "Big brother's not here to-"

"Enough." Lyrius rose, his superior height coupled with his mane of dark hair and darker expression made Weevil suddenly seem like a rabbit cornered by a wolf. "Leave. Do not return."

He caught Weevil's swing and squeezed. Weevi's eyes bugged a bit and he wordlessly mouthed his pain, a disturbing cracking noise coming from his fingers. "Or I will only _start_ with breaking your fingers."

Without giving Weevil time to respond, he seized him by the front of his shirt and hurled him out the door casually. There a few curses and a crashing noise that suggested Weevil had hit his D-Wheel.

"You sure you don't wanna share any stories, king?" Rex got to his feet, looking appreciative. "Guys like you don't talk that without having learned how to do that stuff the hard way."

"No. No stories." Lyrius replied curtly and grabbed his drink. He sipped it, then scowled at it. "The insect has soured this drink's taste."

"Which would be an improvement." Serenity smiled lopsidedly and twirled the bottle lazily in one hand. "But hey, we are kinda out over here, Rex."

"Right, right." Rex started going through his rack of bottles again, grabbing one nearly at random and suddenly fumbling with it, nearly dropping it. "Who, jeeze...damn, where'd this headache come from? About near lost my grip on this thing…"

"I dunno...but I've got one two. It's really pounding." Serenity rubbed at her temples futily. "It's like...like…"

"Someone is playing a bass drum right behind your eyeballs." Lyrius finished. He could feel it too - the powerful ache threatening to try and pop both of his out of his skull. And with it, a sickeningly familiar wriggling sensation slithering in his brain. " _Magic."_

"What? Really?" Serenity yelped in sudden pain, followed by Rex and their heads drooped for a moment. When they rose, blank expression had wiped their personalities clean and a glimmering golden eye had centered itself on their foreheads.

An obnoxiously triumphant chittering laugh heralded Weevil's brazen return through the doorway. "I told you have I had a few tricks up my sleeve! Now that you're caught in my web-"

His jaw dropped a little when he saw Lyrius already lunging for him. "No-no way! You should be mine! Stop him! Stop him!"

Lyrius nearly fell over, catching himself on a table as Serenity and Rex half tackled him, half tangled themselves up in his legs.

"I don't know how you're not being my mind slave right now, but that'll change!" Weevil growled and a light lit up underneath his shirt. It formed into a six-pointed star that rippled into existence outside his clothing, a gleaming Eye of Horus dead center.. "This little number will add you to my swarm!"

The eye glowed and Lyrius felt the headache behind his eyes explode. It cost his chance to free himself from Serenity and Rex, the two moving like zombies to seize his arms. The slithering sensation increased as well and he could feel it trying to swamp his mind, whispering to obey Weevil. "No."

Weevil started as Lyrius' cold rebuttal and then rage prompted him to act again, the eye's glow increasing. "You are mine!"

Feeling like his head was going to explode, Lyrius took in a breath and let it out. The pain receded and he relaxed his body, slipping free of his captor's grasp with ease. "No."

"You're not like the others…" Weevil backed up a couple of steps and then bolted in a panic. "It's supposed to work on everyone!"

Lyrius swore as he stood, only for Rex and Serenity to grab at him again. He could hear Weevil's D-Wheel rattling to life and tore his arms free. Two swift blows to their temples left his companions sprawled over the floor unconscious and he bolted out the doorway. Weevil's panicked yelp of terror was only slightly less audible than the guttural roar of his D-Wheel as it peeled away. "Resonae!"

The Nightmare shot out of the alleyway before he had finished her name, Lyrius mounting her expertly as she darted past. The fires of her mane flared fuller and she snorted in anticipation, eager for the chase. A squeeze of his knees on her barrel sent charging into a full gallop.

Even if hadn't been for the explosive level of noise, Weevil's D-Wheel would have been easy enough to keep track of. It was bulky and painted a garish mix of greens and blues, which were nearly obscured by the pouring smoke from the exhaust pipes. Against Satelliates dingy exterior and muted tones, it stuck out like a sore thumb. As sparks flew as Weevil banked into a turn a little too hard, leaving the rear end to scrap on the cement, Lyrius found it surprising that everything on the bike still seemed to function.

Including the rearview mirrors working both. Weevil gawked with fear at the sight of apparent black horse simply charging at him and closing the gap slowly. The bike lurched, shedding a few parts, as he squeezed the throttle and sped up...and so did Resonae.

People scattered as Weevil barreled around another corner, sending a pile of debris splaying out behind him. Resonae leapt over them without breaking stride, the powerful leap actually closing the distance even further.

Lyrius narrowed his eyes as his duel disk, strapped on a special harness on his mount, suddenly activated. " _Activating Speed World."_

Resonae snorted in amusement at the noise and lurched ahead alongside Weevil, Lyrius already reaching for him. "You think a duel would let you get away?"

"It will if it's a Shadow Game!" Light flared from Weevil's item as he held it up and both rider and Nightmare shied away reflexively. Dark fire spun to life on D-Wheel's tires and spread out two directions, shoving Resonae away while passing over her harmlessly. It bordered an apparently random course, both duelist having to suddenly swerve as corner appeared in front of them. "You won't escape my control again if you lose!" (WLP: 8000/SPC: 0)

"Your feeble will could not enslave me even if you had a century to try." Lyrius smirked as Weevil growled at him angrily. "But I will not let you have even five turns." (LLP: 8000/SPC: 0)

"You're right, because I'll crush you before then!" Weevil snapped up a card for his turn and both duelist's Speed Counters ticked up to one. "I summon Howling Insect in attack mode!" A portal spun open nearby and with a heavy chirp, a man-sized cricket jumped out of it. (1200/1300)

Grabbing two cards, he swept them into his bike and watched they appeared briefly alongside him before fading away. "Then I set two cards and let you take it away, scrub!"

"Draw." Lyrius did so. The sharp 'beep!' from his disk reminded him that their Speed Counters had increased, but he ignored it and grabbed another card from his hand. "I summon Raiden, Hand of the Lightsworn in attack position." (1700/1000)

Light flared nearby, resolving into a man with two golden daggers, massive scarf billowing in the wind. "This monster lets me send the top two cards of my deck to the graveyard. If other Lightsworn monsters are among them, his other effect will activate."

Picking up the two cards, he promptly dropped them into the graveyard. "None are present, but his attack points are still greater than your monster's! Go! _Light Rending!"_

Raiden bowed his head, disappearing in a puff of smoke. Howling Insect chirped and then suddenly went still. The Lightsworn monster reappeared alongside Lyrius as the bug split perfectly down the middle, light spilling from the wound until it explode apart. (WLP: 7500/SPC: 2)

"That just drags you deeper into my trap, fool! When Howling Insect goes to the graveyard, I can summon another bug with less than fifteen hundred attack points! I choose Pupa of Moth!" Any ugly mix of mottled browns and greens, the pupa that rose up alongside Weevil was larger than both bike and rider. It pulsed and wriggled desperately, already close to hatching. (0/2000)

"I set two cards face-down." Lyrius swept them into his disk, unbothered as Resonae leapt over a pile of debris while the two duelists rounded a corner. " During my End Phase, Raiden sends two more cards from the top of the deck to the graveyard. End of turn."

Weevil drew and gave off a gleeful version of his chittering laugh. The pupa began to bulge and tear as whatever was inside began to shove its way out. "During my Standby Phase after it's summoned, Pupa of Moth can be sacrificed! And when it is, I can summon forth one of the most powerful monsters you'll ever see!"

With a squelching noise heard over even the roar of Weevil's D-Wheel, the monster emerged. Wetness splattered everywhere as it unfolded massive blue wings. With a single flap that kicked up dust and spread pollen, it hoisted an equally massive body into the air, looming over the track like a insectiod blimp. "Behold the instrument of your demise! Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth!" (3500/3000)

"Like you, perfection has aged poorly, Weevil!" Lyrius swept out an arm and one of his set cards flipped up. "Bottomless Trap Hole!"

The Moth suddenly froze in mid-flap, a flurry of cracks zig-zagging over its body like it was transforming into a jigsaw puzzle. The noise of cracking glass filled the air as the monster fell apart, the pieces dissolving into the either. "As your monster has more than fifteen hundred attack points, it is destroyed and banished from play!"

Weevil stared at the space where his monster had been, then his face twisted into fury. "Don't think I'm beaten with one lucky move! I activate my set card, Limit Impulse!"

The card lifted, revealing it to be a trap that spat out two motes of light that hovered alongside Weevil. "By discarding two cards, I can summon two Soul Tokens to the field! But they won't be sticking, because I'm sacrificing them to summon Butterfly Queen Danaus!" (2800/1900)

His new monster was far more humanoid, six great moth wings fanning out behind her. Each had a single great upon it, rainbow bits of pollen trailing from them as she flew alongside her summoner. "A swarm of insects is just as deadly as a big one and Danaus knows it! I can reduce her attack power to zero and summon three low leven insects from my graveyard free of charge!" (2800-0)

Danaus sagged as the color drained from her colorful wings, folding them around herself in a series of flaps that scattered pollen everywhere. Three portals of light erupted alongside Weevil as the duelists zipped through an archway of junk. "I summon Chainsaw Insect, Arsenal Bug and Howling Insect!" (2400/0) (2000/2000)

The two new monsters were giant beetles, the latter living up it to its name with oversized serrated mandibles and the other wielding a makeshift sword and shield. "Arsenal Bug attacks your do-gooder Lightsworn! Cut him into pieces!"

Lyrius merely pointed and his remaining set card flipped up as the beetle buzzed eagerly towards Raiden. "The continuous trap The Phantom Sword targets a monster on the field upon activation and increases its attack power by eight hundred. The choice is obviously Raiden!" (1700-2500)

Raiden poofed out of existence again and then reappeared in the same position as before. Arsenal Bug crumbled apart into pieces that didn't even reach the warrior. (WLP: 7000/SPC: 2)

"You...you…" Weevil spluttered and raised his item threateningly. "You'll regret that!"

"I regret many things, Weevil. But defeating you will not be one of them." Lyrius watched as Weevil's rage rose. "You anger so easily...such a cheap pride results in a cheap duelist."

"Shut up!" Weevil practically slammed his next card into his disk. "I end my turn!

"Draw." Lyrius snapped up the card and pulled two from his deck to drop into the graveyard. "I use the effect of Raiden and once again, there are no Lightsworm monsters among them."

He tossed down a card and with a heavy rumbling, a cartoon tank rolled up out of the darkness beside him. It had angry eyes on its gun turret and banged together a pair of boxing gloved-fists. "I summon Tank Roid in attack position and then tune him with Raiden for a Synchro Summon." (1500/1900)

Tank Roid broke apart into glowing stars that began to circle around Raiden rapidly, creating a pillar of light that hid him from view. " _Born the mightiest dream, the pain from fallen warriors burdens you with endless strength! Colossal Fighter!"_

The light scattered, revealing a burly, towering white armored golem. Its merciless vizor focused on Weevil's bugs and it slammed a fist into its open palm. "Colossal Fighter gains one hundred attack points for every warrior type monster in my graveyard." (2800-3200/1000)

Lyrius drew. "When Tank Roid goes to the graveyard, I may draw one card. Colossal Fighter attacks Howling Insect! _Mighty Blow!_ "

The Synchro Monster's punch lived up to the name, the strike splattering Howling Insect into chunky bits. Weevil flinched and lost ground as his life points and Speed Counters fell. "Howling Insect's effect! I summon another Pupa of Moth from my deck in defense position!" (WLP: 5000/SPC: 1)

Another of the ugly pupae appeared as Weevil wiped the last of his previous monster away from his eyes just in time to see Lyrius' other set card flip up to activate. "Assault Mode Activate!?"

"This trap tributes my Colossal Fighter to summon forth Colossal Fighter/Assault Mode from my deck!" The trap glowed, scattering apart to cover the Synchro Monster. When it faded, the burly monster was even more so. Heavy blue armor covered it from head to do and jets flared from the jetback on its back. "When this monster is summoned, I can send two more warrior monster from the deck to the graveyard. Meaning that since his power now drains your monsters for one hundred attack points for each one, your Chainsaw Insect weakens by seven hundred points!" (3300/1500)

Lyrius pointed at the false cocoon of wings that was still trailing after the D-Wheel. "But since Danaus has no power to speak of, it matters little. My monster attacks! _Jet Slam!_

"Oh no…!" Weevil watched as his insect sagged greatly even as Colossal Fighter rocketed forwards, one-two punch combination slamming his butterfly into the blazing darkness of the track's walls. She gave an unholy shriek as the dark fires burned into cinders. His points fell even further and the loss of the last of his Speed Counters meant Resonae was easily able to pull ahead of the sputtering D-Wheel. (WLP: 1700/SPC: 0)

"Yield, Weevil." Lyrius called over his shoulder, Resonae jumping into a length of pipe as duel took them through a maze of junk that was too narrow for two duelists at once. A card flashed into existence alongside his Nightmare briefly. "You are messing with things do not understand and power you cannot truly grasp. Your life is not worth your pride."

"Don't you preach to me! You'd be cursing my name if I were winning! You and everyone else, you're not different! As long as you're ahead, you look down on everyone else!" Weevil snapped back and squeezed the throttle on his bike, brazenly slamming it through what junk there was in his way. "The only thing I ever wanted was power! With that, I could have anything I ever wanted!"

Lyrius watched as Weevil's recklessness tore a few pieces off his D-Wheel, including one of the side mirrors. The Insect duelist paid no attention, the full force of his glare and roaring of his motor focused on catching up to his opponent. "It doesn't matter how I get to the top, only that I do! The world isn't fair, scrub and I decided a long time ago that if it wasn't, I was at least going to get my share of it! I draw!"

Weevil tore the card free and glanced at it as even as his pupa wriggled and split. Laughter erupted from him as another Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth took to the air. But unlike its predecessor, it staggered in flight and sagged everywhere due to the power drain from Lyrius' Colossal Fighter. (3500-2800)

"Hmmph." Lyrius shook his head at Weevil's laughter. "Save your pride for when you claim victory, not loss."

"Good suggestion! I'll keep it in mind as I tear you down, scrub! I activate my trap card, Needlebug Nest!" Weevil tugged a stack of cards from his deck and dropped them into his graveyard. "This trap sends five cards from the top of my deck to the discard pile!"

A mote of light appeared along his D-Wheel, morphing into a dog-sized ladybug. It buzzed a few times, shell painted to look like the traditional level star on a Duel Monster. "Level Eater can be summoned by reducing the level of another monster I have by one! My Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth has eight, so it more than qualifies!" (600-0/0)

Weevil sneered as he held up his drawn card. "But that still leave my Moth's level more than high enough to summon out the ultimate insect! I tribute all three of my monsters!"

He sped up, ramping his D-Wheel up to Lyrius' level, Level Eater and Chainsaw Insect vanishing as he did so. "From the far reaches of evolution comes the ultimate life-form! Die in agony and give your flesh to a new majesty! I summon Empress Infestation!"

Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth suddenly gave a pained shriek, Resonae jerking in surprise at the impossible and chilling noise from an insect. Its exoskeleton actually bulged and swelled, splitting like an overripe piece of fruit. Green ichor and guts spilled forth and then the monster just snapped and split like someone thought it was an egg.

Weevil laughed triumphantly as his monster descended like a twisted vision of an angel. Three pairs of gossamer wings flapped eerie slow, enough to show that there veins in them pumping glowing liquid rhythmically. The same liquid pulsed around her body, patterning her overlapping chitin armor like holy symbols. Three sets of hands were locked in a buddha-esque prayer pattern. It was almost beautiful in a dangerous way, both furthered and ruined by the over-sized fly-style head. And the alien, hungry intelligence therein glittering in those compound eyes. (?/0)

"This monster is the pinnacle of bug cards! She'll devour you, your monsters and your life points and there's nothing you can do about it!" Weevil leered at Lyrius. "What's the matter? Nothing to say to me this time? Or has it finally struck you that I'm going to beat you!?"

"Your monster is more aesthetically pleasing than you are. I was trying to put it into a clever insult, but it truly speaks for itself." Lyrius watched Weevil's face contort with anger again with a dry smile. "Do not be so upset. You did ask me to say something."

"I'll teach you to mock me!" Weevil pointed at Lyrius' monster. "By banishing a level seven or higher insect from the graveyard, Empress Infestation can destroy one of your monsters!" He caught the card that dropped out of his graveyard. _"Soul Infestation!"_

The monster's arms twisted into a new pattern, a pink glow suffusing her. Colossal Fighter staggered suddenly, jets dying out as he crashed to the ground limply. Lyrius held tight to Resonae's neck as she made a leaping turn. "When the Assault Mode version is destroyed, I can revive the original Colossal Fighter from the graveyard!"

A portal opened alongside him, the Synchro Monster rumbling forwards to keep pace with the Nightmare. (2800-3400)

Lyrius' eyes widened as he saw his monster's stats display and Weevil's laugh caught up to him. "Oops! Looks like it's missing a few points! Didn't I say my monster infested the soul of yours!?"

The corpse of his Assault Mode monster suddenly twitched and spasmed, cracks spreading all over its armor. Chitin and gunk poured out, solidifying into coral-like masses of jagged edges. It pushed itself to its feet, the helmet having cracked open to reveal a proboscis and compound eyes bulging out of the small space. "The eggs devour your monsters flesh and soul, making it a servant to my Empress!"

Lyrius grimaced as Weevil's graveyard slid out another card. "And I can do it more than once per turn! _Soul Infestation!"_

Colossal Fighter bulged and warped under its armor as Empress Infestation glowed pink once more. Like its counterpart, the spreading tears and cracks were from something inside trying to get out. One arm just flew apart as a multi-jointed leg burst free and its helmet just tore as a pincered jaw sought escape. Two fresh wings buzzed and carried it over to join Weevil's side of the playing field. "Did I mention that my Empress' attack points are determined by the combined attack points of all the monsters she infests!?" (?-3300-2800-6100)

Weevil banked hard into the next turn, nearly toppling his bike but somehow managed to pull right behind Lyrius and Resonae. "Empress Infestation! Attack his life points directly! Show him some real power! _Divine Consumption!"_

The monster's hands twisted together again, a golden glow suffusing her. The air around Lyrius warped with same glow, reality twisted into taffy. He gritted his teeth as pain wracked his body, the warping space feeling like mouths trying to tear him apart.

Then it all exploded in a flash of brilliant white-gold, only Resonae's scream of pain drowning out Weevil's laughter. The bug duelist shot through the resulting cloud with ease, sneering as the Nightmare came stumbling, lurching forwards out of the mess. She scraped against the flaming barriers of the Shadow Game, bolting away like she had been struck. "Ha! I guess my Empress really did eat you…"

Resonae snorted angrily and sped up, the fires of her mane and hooves roaring to full size as she bolted forwards. Weevil just laughed at the furious expression on her face. "What? Really? You trying to avenge your master, stupid horse!?"

"You have made her very angry, Weevil. And she is very hungry." Lyrius' voice echoed out from nowhere in particular, even as Resonae closed the gap between them.

"What? Where are you!?" Weevil shouted back, squeezing more throttle out of his bike. Worry was creeping down his spine. The duel hadn't ended, the dark flames forcing him to make another tight turn.

"I am still here. But do not worry about me. There are more... _pressing_ concerns."

"What are you on about, scrub!?" Weevil glared at nothing in particular and then happened to glance into his rearview mirror.

Resonae's visage filled it, her eyes an unearthly shade of golde. Apparently catching sight of Weevil looking at her, she _smiled_ with all her teeth and opened her mouth, revealing them to be pointed and sharp fangs eager for his blood.

Weevil screamed.

But suddenly, Resonae was galloping a short distance behind him. Lyrius was astride her back, his clothing and body smoldering and torn from the attack he had taken. But his expression was no less fierce than his mount's and Weevil felt fear creep down his spine. "I told you that you would not even get five turns, Weevil. Did you enjoy your last one?"

"Don't...don't make me laugh!" Weevil rallied himself, guiding his bike to slam through a pile of debris. He laughed as Lyrius was forced to duck and swerve, widening the gap between them. "My Empress totaled your life points and I still have plenty of insects to power her effect!"

He plugged a card into his bike. "All you've done is throw your own deck away! This duel is mine!"

"Yours to lose." Lyrius corrected like a teacher would a struggling student and Weevil just snarled in response. "My turn begins. Draw!"

Doing so, Lyrius' watched as his graveyard slid a card out. "I banish The Phantom Sword from my graveyard to special summon The Phantom Knights of Cracked Helm from the graveyard!"

Shadows pooled together in the air alongside him, morphing into a floating medieval helm and two gauntlets. All three were bleeding pale blue ectoplasm. (1500/500)

"And then I summon from the hand, another Raiden!" A portal opened up on his opposite side, spitting out the heavenly assassin once more. "Now I combine the power of my monsters!"

The two monsters sank into the ground, their shadows doubling in size and swirling together to join the one Lyrius and Resonae were casting. It drew massive as it drug out behind Lyrius, two red eyes opening up. _"When dark forces become mere shadows, their rage spawns you forth in revolution! Let the mighty gaze upon you and know despair! Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon!"_

With a cacophonous screech, a form tore its way up from the shadows. True to its name, it was a dragon. Its wings were angular and jagged, the whole monster looking like it had been carved into existence to do nothing but deal death. (2500/2000)

"Dark Rebellion...Exceed Dragon?" Weevil muttered and then shook his head. "Whatever that thing is, I hope you weren't counting on it to save you! I activate Privileges of the Insect Queen!"

His set card rose and Empress Infestation began glowed white. "This trap equips to my Empress! She is now immune to the monster effects of anything that has a lower level than her! And if you'd try and destroy her, her subjects will give their lives instead! She is truly invincible!"

Empress Infestation rose higher and spun to face the trailing Lyrius, her wings spreading to their fullest extent. Weevil laughed triumphantly. "So kneel down and maybe I'll let you live to serve me!"

"You have not the strength to force me to bow my head, let alone kneel." Lyrius said sharply and pointed at his monster. "Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon, I activate your special ability!"

"You can't read or listen, can you?" Weevil roared in frustration. "Your monster's level is too low, even at eight stars! It can't do anything to my Empress!"

Lyrius just smirked. "My monster has no level."

Weevil's eyes bugged out. "What..what...no _level!?_ That's impossible! Only the...Dark Signers had cards like that!"

"I am no Dark Signer. But I am no stranger to dark powers and their consequences. And for those like you, Weevil, who play with such things so carelessly, will be devoured by even darker shadows!" Lyrius pointed at Empress Infestation. "The two monsters I used to Xyz Summon my dragon became its batteries and now I expend them both! I can target a monster on the field and halve its attack points! Those points are given to my dragon! _Treason Discharge!"_

Two spheres of light swirled around his dragon and then shot forwards, punching through Empress Infestation's screen of light like it wasn't there. She crumpled, hands dropping limply to her sides as tendrils of black crept along her body. Weevil stared in horror as she sagged and the glow of her power died. "This...this can't be happening!" (6100-3050) (2500-5550)

"You are correct. It can't be happening." Resonae sped up to pull neck and neck with Weevil, the bug duelist shrinking in fear at the glittering cold darkness of Lyrius' eyes. Behind him, his shadowy dragon was surging with power and dark fire was licking free of its jaws. "The moment you attacked those I cared about, you had already lost! _Dark Triumph!"_

Black fire spewed forth from Lyrius' dragon, Empress Infestation shrieking horribly in all-too human agony as she was literally cooked to a crisp. Her wings withered and folded in on themselves, carapace crack and venting ugly steam as her guts were boiled. She crashed down in front of Weevil, blazing with unholy fire. (WLP: 0)

Weevil slammed on the brakes reflexively, banking into a turn that sent his bike crashing towards the flaming walls. The vehicle flew apart with the impact, Weevil howling in agony as the flames burned and didn't burn. There was no pain from his flesh, it was like they were burning at his very soul and-

It mercifully stopped as a strong hand seized his head and ripped him free. Dangling from Lyrius' grip like a poor man's puppet, Weevil twisted and spasmed as they slowed to a halt. "Let go of me, you neanderthal!"

"Certainly. One disposes of garbage in the junkyard, after all." Lyrius threw Weevil into a pile of junk, the insect duelist moaning in pain and frustration. Dismounting, Lyrius loomed over him. "Hand over the item you have and you will not have any further trouble. If you have the sense to stay away from myself and the others."

"You bastard…!" Weevil shot to his feet and metal flashed as he lunged towards Lyrius. "This power is mine! I won't let you take it away from me!"

Lyrius caught Weevil's wrist, the knife the smaller man held not even reaching him. He narrowed his eyes and squeezed sharply, a cracking sound emitting from Weevil's wrist. The knife dropped from his finger's nervelessly. "That was foolish."

Weevil staggered back as Lyrius released him, the bug duelist clutching at his wrist. He stared at his twitching fingers and then back at Lyrius, a scream of inarticulate rage ripping free from his throat. "Why!? Why did you have to exist!? This place was going to be mine!"

"Only in your dreams." Lyrius replied curtly and took a measured step so he could loom over the smaller man. "Yield. Or I _will_ start with your fingers."

"Never!" Weevil roared and held out the item. A brilliant flash blinded Lyrius and he staggered a step back. The insect duelist turned and bolted, but then a piece of junk slammed into his legs from behind and he went crashing to the ground. "Bastard!"

"Enough." Lyruis planted his foot on Weevil's back and reached for the item...only to see it was still glowing. "That will not work on me."

"It does your fucking horse!" Weevil hollered and laughed as Resonae suddenly body-checked Lyrius into a pile of junk. He scrambled to his feet, watching with glee as Lyrius grappled with his Nightmare. "You said she was hungry! Maybe you'll make a tastier snack!"

Lyrius didn't reply, a kick shoving Resonae back several steps. The Nightmare whined and tossed her head wildly, a glimmering eye trying to shine to life under her horn. She pawed at the ground and lashed about without caring that she was slamming into piles of junk or hurting herself.

"Resonae-" Lyrius took a step towards her and got a horn across the chest for his troubles. He staggered and slumped against a pile of junk, clutching at the wound. A clattering noise snapped his head around and he glared at a retreating Weevil. "No!"

"Yes!" Weevil hollered back, a burst for light from his item sending a pile of debris behind him to bar the way.

A pained neigh drew his attention back to Resonae and the Nightmare slammed into him again. She was pressing at him, eyes clenched tightly shut against a pain she couldn't fight against. He wrapped his arms around her neck tightly, her thrashings slowing. "Focus, Resonae. My strength is your strength."

The Nightmare stilled and he felt the warm coldness as she tapped into the bond they shared. The eye glimmering on her forehead froze, then cracked apart into pieces. She was silent for a few moments as they both caught their breath and then snorted, eyes gazing down contritely.

"It is fine. I did not think a Millennium Item could work on anything that was not human. And their forgeries even less so." Lyrius grunted in pain as he hauled himself over her back, wincing at the blood staining his clothing and hand. "Where he got one or how he made it can be saved for later. The way he spoke, he already has several duelists under his control. We are going to find him and stop him."

Resonae nickered, a few of her thoughts brushing Lyrius' mind and prompting him to smile. "I will consider letting you eat him, yes. He looks crunchy, however and may need a lot of ketchup."

She gave him the feeling of a sarcastic response and he chuckled, before groaning and slumping over her. "For now, Resonae, back to Serenity. And with all due haste. I am not in any condition to deal with more trouble if it arises today. Too out of practice…"

The Nightmare just nodded and took off at a light canter, vanishing into another canyon of junk and debris.

Moments later, the quiet throb of an engine broke the silence and a maroon D-Wheel glided into the area. The owner let it idle for a minute, then killed it. She stood and took off her helmet, shaking out a head of blonde hair. She took in the destruction and debris, depositing her helmet over the handlebars.

A few quick steps took her over to the puddles of blood on the ground and she knelt, studying curiously. Two fingers dipped into it and she scissored them, watching it shine unnaturally in the setting sunlight. "That's definitely magical or I'll eat my deck."

Chimes from the D-Wheel summoned her back to it and she tapped a button, the screens switching to a camera view. On the other side was a young man with a mop of hair suggesting he had just rolled out of bed, though she knew he had been up all night on monitor duty. And had been the one to send her out here. "There was definitely a Shadow Duel here, Shichiro. Damage, debris, even some blood that I'm pretty sure isn't human."

" _Canvas the area and start looking for more clues. We got six panicked calls in the last thirty minutes that the Dark Signers were back and someone heard shouting about a monster with no level. Gears is on his way back from patrol to help you."_

"I don't know if it really is the Dark Signers, though. We all saw Yusei's Savior Star Dragon destroy the King of the Underworld."

" _That doesn't mean there isn't anyone trying to take advantage of the mess. Someone tripped the wards we set up at the old Ener-D reactor a few days ago and now this? Not a coincidence. The Signers did their part saving the world, now the Shadowchasers are going clean up whatever was hiding in the dark."_

"I saved the world, too, you know. The blonde-haired woman gave him a frustrated look. "Don't I get bonus vacation time or something?"

Shichiro just laughed. " _First lesson of being a Shadowchaser, Jinx. Vacation just means you're the last person we call instead of the first when there's trouble. Keep in touch."_ The screen winked off.

"Wonderful." Jinx sighed and folded her arms, taking another frustrated look around the site. "Where do I even start?"

TTTTTTTT

Weevil ran until his strength gave out, staggering and bracing himself against some metal. He heaved with unspent rage. "That scrub...how could have he overpowered me like that!?"

e glared at the Star clenched in his hand. "Weren't you supposed to make me strong? Give me the strength to take what was mine!"

Metal rang against metal as he hurled it into a nearby wall, the Star skidding and spinning away. "Worthless hunk of scrap! Useless as everything else in this place…!"

"Gifts shouldn't be so casually discarded…" A voice rasped from the darkness, a metal boot stopping the Star's trip easily. Gauntleted fingers picked it up carefully. "Especially ones that are so precious and rare. You might hurt someone's feelings."

"Yeah, well, it didn't work as advertised!" Weevil snapped defiantly. "You said that Millennium Star would give me an army! All its done is been useful for bad jokes!"

"That would be what's called 'operator error', Weevil." The voice sounded more amused than anything and held up the Star "Since there isn't an instruction manual handy, why don't I give a practical demonstration of how to use it?"

The Eye of Horus on it glowed and Weevil took a step back, fear washing over his features. "You said...you said only I could-"

"I said you had the greatest potential to wield it, not that only you could." The figure chided and Weevil groaned in sudden pain as a headache built behind his eyes. "This is a copy, after all and it takes great willpower to have it perform well."

The bug duelist clutched at his head and shuddered as the pain intensified. "I won't...I won't…"

The Eye of Horus blazed to life on Weevil's forehead and the figure chuckled, the raspiness of their voice making it sound like sandpaper scraping against itself. "You won't, what? Little bugs like you are easy to squash."

"I won't…" Weevil got to his feet, glaring even as sweat poured down his face and the Eye glowed like it was burning. "I won't let you take me...I won't let you take my-" He lashed out, snaring the Star and the Item's glow brightened before Weevil forced his will upon it. "-power!"

The figure watched as the Star's glow flickered and then was snuffed out by Weevil's will. "See? That potential is still in you. You just need to tap into it and not let your pride get in the way."

"I would have won if-" Weevil broke off his tirade and gulped as the he tried to tug the Star away and found it wouldn't budge an inch.

"Of all the words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these: It might have been." A pair of red dots lit up in the darkness warningly. "Only has-beens try to change the past. Is that what you are?"

"Never!" Weevil wrenched the Star free and held it up determinedly. "I will rule Satellite!"

"Excellent." The figure's glowing eyes faded away. "Now let's discuss exactly how you're going to do that and how you're going to turn this to your advantage…"

TTTTT

 _Final Notes:_ Originally, this chapter involved Weevil as a minor character assisting Lyrius and Serenity (begrudgingly) as they dealt with a bunch of zombiefied duelists who had come back to life thanks to the King of the Underworld ripping a hole in the Netherworld when it got free, including a zombie Rex Raptor and other minor YGO characters. Why the change?

Because no one likes Weevil and zombies can't play card games.

And as we all know, card games are serious business.

Just like fanfiction.

It has to be. The Internet says so!

Enjoy your day and see you next time.


	2. TMI

Kintsugi  
By 7th Librarian

Chapter 2: TMI

"It's a good thing that there is nobody else in the world like you, Lyrius."

The bald declaration prompted a pair of black eyes to search her curiously. "Care to elaborate? I admit I am having difficulty deciding whether that was meant in offence."

Serenity swatted him with a fresh bandage.

"Give over. I mean that if everyone on the planet healed as fast as you, I'd be out of a job," she explained, examining the wound again with a critical eye. "Most people would still have an open and probably weeping gash, but your tissues regenerate much faster than normal, and there is no sign of infection."

"I am fairly certain that the lack of festering can be attributed to your excellent care," her patient pointed out, before pulling a face. "And your liberal use of sterilising agents."

"Tough it out - antiseptic saves lives," she advised, placing the dressing pad over the clotted wound and beginning to wrap the bandage securely around his chest. "I know you don't like admitting to injury, but you need this bandage on. It's a big boo-boo and it doesn't need to get any worse."

"Mmm. It is good tactics, as well. Even just a bandage can project a false image that is useful in battle or negotiation. Not many would hesitate to engage an apparently wounded man and those who would can lured into seeing something that not there." Lyrius was unmoved by the raised eyebrow his doctor was giving him. "Combat is just as much psychological as it is physical."

"Well, I don't think I can fix your head just yet, but your body's a different story." Serenity gave a kiss to the bandage on his chest, right over where his heart would be. "And here's the end to this chapter. All better!"

Lyrius gave flustered sigh and she giggled as went to pack the bandages away. "I am not a child."

"Doesn't mean you don't need some kindness and tenderness now and again. Too many adults I know tend to forget that our emotional needs are just as important as physical ones." Serenity gave him a teasing look. "But I suppose for mister dark king of the night, you had that covered. What with the lavish feasting, minstrels and jesters and the harem of beautiful women at your beck and call."

"I did not have a harem." Lyrius corrected and pulled on his shirt. "I preferred to surround myself with competency, those who could engage my mind and improve it. Or enable me to perform my duties more efficiently. Before you ask, yes, on occasion, they were called upon to engage my body."

"Hmmm, I think this is the point where I...hmmm.." Serenity turned around, leaning against her table in a flattering pose while giving him a sensual pouting look. "I say even though I'm fifty percent metal, I'm still _all_ woman and the doctor says it's time for your _intimate_ physical examination…"

Lyrius' expression didn't change, but Serenity was rewarded as shades of red crept up his face and celebrated by laughing. "Wow, I thought flirting was so brazen back then, but I guess not!"

"Flirting and offering one's self are two different things." Lyrius countered embarrassedly. "And I would not shame our friendship by suggesting sex between us. You are not a toy or vehicle for my pleasures and I do think it would be insulting to-"

"Hey, next time, just say 'I respect you, Doctor Wheeler and wouldn't think to ask for anything you wouldn't offer first." She bopped him over the head lightly with a clenched fist. "Not that I wouldn't appreciate you asking. At my age, it makes a girl feel special. And flattered."

"Apologies."

"No, no, there's nothing to apologize for. You really aren't good with people, are you? I can tell you're embarrassed and the idea of having sex with me is awkward. So just smile and be embarrassed. Don't try to explain everything away." She grabbed a small tablet of paper, pulling a pen out of a slot on her metal arm and scrawled something on it. Ripping it off with a flourish, she thrust it in Lyrius' face. "Take it and read it aloud."

Lyrius carefully took it and then tilted his head at it slightly. "Is it ciphered…?"

"It's perfectly legible." Serenity huffed and gave him a glower that prompted Lyrius to clear his throat.

"Prescription: One afternoon lunch with a qualified physician two-to-three times a week in order to improve communication skills, understanding of modern social awareness and overall good physical and mental health. Signed by Doctor Serenity Wheeler." He peered at her amusedly over the top of the sheet. "You could have merely suggested we go get lunch."

"Boring things made fun, that's my motto. We got some decent food this time and Rex has offered to cook."

"Will it taste better than the alcohol?"

"The burnt ash tastes is good for drowning out the melting acid feeling. C'mon, let's go."

TTTTT

Despite Serenity's words, Rex proved himself to be an apt cook. His grill may have been a barrel sawed in half lengthwise, with a rusted wire grating for grates and the charcoal looked rather suspicious and smelled just as crooked. But there was no denying that the food smelled good and he rather looked to be enjoying himself.

"Hey, king, you want it well done or medium?" Rex asked, flipping his burgers so deftly that the first one hadn't even returned to the grill by the time he got the last one.

"Medium." Lyrius didn't look up from the sheet of paper he was doodling on.

"What about you, doc?"

"Is it still mooing?"

"No."

"Then it's not rare enough. But get as close as you can." Serenity smiled as Rex rolled his eyes. "You doing alright?"

"Yeah, yeah. Weevil's little stunt didn't hurt anything and the headache quit yesterday." Rex grumbled into his work, skewering some vegetables with a little more force than necessary. "When I get my hands on that bug, I'm gonna pop his head off and pin him to my wall!"

"So we have no leads on his location?" Lyrius asked.

"Not a one. That shack he charitably calls a house is empty and none of the other residents know where he'd be if he's not there. Not that most of them give a rat's ass about him. Weevil's got a knack for pissing people off and making enemies. He's the fly in life's soup."

"Well, if I had such a bad name and people kept making bug-related comments about me and my life, I might go evil, too." Serenity said charitably, sipping at away her drink through a straw. "I think he's just naturally a dick, though."

"I just said that." Rex rolled his eyes. "But hey, king, I couldn't find any leads. BUt there was a couple of strange characters loitering around asking about that duel you had. Had some crazy hair."

"I am beginning to think that here in Japan, no one has a natural hair color or style."

"So you fit right in!" Serenity chimed in and just grinned when Lyrius lifted his head to give her a look.

"What did these individuals want?"

"They mostly asked if I had seen or heard anything. Wanted to know if anyone I know had been talking about the Dark Signers or been to the B.A.D. area or anything like that. One of them asked if I had seen anyone with pointed ears or something, then seemed kind of irritated when I said people don't have pointy ears and that's stupid." Rex growled a little. "Damn teenagers. Thinking we old folk are idiots…"

Lyrius sat up a little straighter. "Did you get their names?"

"Yeah, one of them said she was 'Jinx' and the redhead was...flame...fire...Ember, yeah that's it." Rex rolled his eyes. "Pretty unoriginal, if you ask me. Cocky little strumpet, though. Seemed pretty damn pleased with herself."

He looked up to see Lyrius standing opposite him. "Uhh...they a problem, king? Or you just that hungry? 'Cause its gonna be a few minutes…."

"What did you tell them?" Lyrius didn't seem upset, but there was a seriousness about him. "Do they know I am here?"

"Pfft, no. I told them the truth, alright? I only heard about that Turbo Duel, I didn't see it, I don't know anything about no monsters with no level or some kind of magic horse and I don't know any bug duelists." Rex huffed a little. "Weevil's strategies are shit, anyway…"

Lyrius nodded, whether in acknowledgement or agreement and returned to his seat, grabbing his pen and placing it on the paper without really looking that he knew where he left off. Serenity leaned forwards in her seat, waving her metal fingers in front of him to catch his attention. "Hey, broodmother. Breeder of all dark moods and angst in my house. Hey."

Lyrius looked up at her.

"Are we in trouble?"

He put down his pen and looked thoughtful for a moment, then shook his head. "No. You and Rex are ordinary humans. Those two teenagers were Shadowchasers and their jurisdiction extends only to magical creatures and events. They have no authority over you and you do not have to worry if they return. Simply avoid mentioning me."

"So...magical cops?" Serenity gave him a curious look. "What branch of the government are they?"

"None. The Shadowchasers are independent organization. They have government contacts and liaisons to ease their work, but do not answer to any." Lyrius smiled gratefully as Rex slid the burgers, now piled on a plate pyramid style, onto the table. While Satellite was short on actual meat (Rex's burgers was as homemade as his booze), staples were easy enough and Lyrius started to help himself to making a proper burger.

His audience, however, were both staring at him expectantly. Serenity was just leaning her face in her metal arm, grinning lightly and Rex was just folding his arms like Lyrius was being the most impolite thing in the world.

Lyrius continued to prepare his food and reached for the pickles when Serenity pulled them out of his reach. "That is childish."

"No story, no pickles."

"I will eat my burger without them."

Rex pulled the burgers, including Lyrius' plate, over to him. "The cat was jealous I caught these before he could. Got such a sappy face I might have to give them back. I'm sure he'll thank me for taking out all those little bones and whiskers."

"You do not own a pet."

"You count!" Serenity grinned. "Be a good boy, now."

Lyrius' eyebrow twitched. "I could take my food back by force."

"You won't, though."

"..." Lyrius grunted in frustration. "Do you both know Eddie Fifteen?"

"Dude's a thief. No one likes him and he's got sticky fingers to the point he's got to have a third hand and a silver tongue."

"He is an elf."

Rex and Serenity stared at him blankly.

"Pointy ears, is actually one hundred and twenty, not twenty." Lyrius folded his fingers together patiently before himself. "His thievery is aided by magic. It is how no one has ever caught him in the act, only after the fact."

"...okay, he's an odd duck, yeah. But...he's stolen some crazy shit before, too. Once even a whole D-Wheel. I don't know why he's stupid enough to try and sell to the other residents. Word gets around." Rex nodded to himself. "So these Shadowchasers are the ones we report him to?"

"No. Eddie has not broken any laws of the Great Treaty." Lyrius continued when they both lifted their eyebrows. "A magical force has been transporting all manner of magical creatures and items to Earth since before recorded history. Two thousand years ago, a group of like-minded knights banded together to form the Shadowchasers in order to keep the balance of power between the unaware humanity and magical Shadowkind stable."

"And all the crazy magical, Shadow Games my brother and friend went through?" Serenity asked, her voice suddenly cold. "Was that just not important enough?"

"Not to mention the Orichalcos." Rex pointed out. "These guys never showed up then."

"The Shadowchasers are few in number and publicly engaging any threat would defeat their purpose. Shadowkind are unique and magical, yes, but they cannot compete against the sheer numbers of humans. And more recently, advancements in modern technology. The Shadow Games were not known until after the fact and Paradias took everyone by surprise. Since there was already groups dealing with both those problems, the Shadowchasers merely kept them under observation."

"So...they didn't give a shit." Rex summarized with a grunt.

Lyrius shrugged. "Did you keep track of every duelist who could ever have been a potential rival? Or did you simply deal with problems as they come?"

"Point. I guess. The world's a big place."

"Yes. Which is why Shadowchasers deal with major magical threats that don't have an already opposing force in play and keep the peace between those cannot see Shadowkind, Mundanes like you and Serenity, and those who are magical in nature."

"Like you." Serenity finished for him.

"Yes. Like me." Lyrius nodded and was a bit surprised when Serenity pushed his food back at him. "I have hardly scratched the surface of information."

"Satellite has enough garbage in it without you info-dumping all over the place. Eat your lunch. Doctor's orders." Serenity gave it a professional nod to make it official.

The three ate in silence for awhile, before Rex spoke up again around of mouthful of the fried carrots they charitably called 'fries'. "So. You got a bad relationship with these Shadowchasers?"

"No. As I said, they are few in number and it is rare I have come into contact with any of them. However, they may take offense to my presence. I am a capable user of what many consider to be...dark magic."

Serenity lifted an eyebrow at him. "A man who dresses entirely in black and rides the cuddliest demon pony ever? Dark magic user? Never would have connected those dots."

Rex elbowed her and gestured at Lyrius. "What dark magic? Like what Weevil did?"

"Yes. And no. Magic is not cut and dry. It is, however, dangerous because there are shortcuts to power with it. Bargaining with powers not of this word is the shortest path, but there are greater consequences to it as well. Weevil got his Millennium Item from someone, as well as the ability to engage Shadow Games. And the price he will pay for that will come eventually. Whether one hundred years or a thousand…" Lyrius' expression darkened sadly and he was very absorbed in his food all of a sudden. "It always comes."

"Yeah, but he could cause a lot of trouble with it before that happens. Weevil's an idiot, but he's cunning. And he doesn't forget a grudge. He's gonna come with a scheme and that'll be bad. Without that magic, his shit only got himself screwed over. With magic, a whole lotta more people are in trouble. I can't imagine anyone in their right mind would ever think using magic like that would be-" Rex was cut off as Serenity's hand clamped over his mouth like a seal.

"You don't need to tell Lyrius this. He's had personal experience in life where quick power trips leave a huge bill, right?" At the dark-haired man's curt nod, Serenity continued. "Can your magic beat Weevil's?"

"Again, it is not cut and dry. I can perform necromancy, blood magic, tantric magic and more. But Weevil's Item is one of the shortcuts. Mind control is not an easy thing, but the Star allows for it with multiple individuals at once. And Shadow Games means attacking him physically isn't possible - that would be an instant loss. And while I can animate the dead or turn his blood against him or paralyze him with sexual pleasure, doing so is not instantaneous. He has advantages in both speed and availability."

"...you have sex magic." Rex blurted out, his jaw going a little slack.

"Yes."

"I..what...that's a _thing_?"

"If it were not, I would not have 'induce mind numbing pleasure to cripple my enemies' as an option."

"You use it as a _weapon?"_

"Yes."

"Why not just ambush Weevil?" Serenity cut in while Rex processed this.

"That is the ideal. Weevil's Item requires him to consciously use it, so being caught by surprise means it is just a hunk of metal. However, since we have not located him, it is fruitless to devise a plan centered around that."

"So what do we do?"

"You do nothing. I will find Weevil or the Shadowchasers will. And he will be dealt with."

Lyrius was halfway through finishing his burger when he realized neither of his two companions were saying anything. A glance up from his food revealed they were just eating as he was. "...you are not protesting this."

"Because we're not stupid." Rex said through a mouthful of carrot fries. "I'm almost a fossil, training wheels here needs 'em not to fall over cause she's nearly as old, and we can't do magic. You can, these Shadowpunks or whatever can. Weevil's your bag."

He tore a rubbery bite off of his burger. "Just know these punks give you grief, we got your back, alright? Same with that bug brain. Doc here can patch you up and I can get you drunk enough the stitches don't hurt."

Lyrius smiled despite himself. "Thank you, Rex. I appreciate that."

"No sweat."

Serenity was going through her food slowly, chewing meticulously. "Lyrius?"

"Yes?"

"Why don't we know about all this stuff if they've been around so long and doing all these things?"

"The Veil. It is a phenomenon that is best described as your brain purposefully ignoring the visual of an elf or the magic he is doing in front of it. It is either blotted out completely or a substitute explanation is offered. Some cannot ignore this, however and they are called Awares."

"Kay…" Serenity poked at her fries with a fork. "Can someone who isn't normally Aware be made one?"

"Not by design. The Veil is inexplicable in any fashion. The only known instances of such a thing are rare and are the result of major magical trauma that to the individual in question. Often, their minds cannot handle the transition and they are afflicted with what is known as 'Awareness Madness'."

"And what is that?"

"Simply the dissonance between their new reality and the old one. The brain struggles to cope and it is almost like a drug high to the extreme. They cannot tell what is there or not there and what they see, may even exaggerated. An elf, who is all but human, may suddenly have freakishly large pointy bat ears and an elongated face with fangs. The mind is essentially no longer grounded in anything."

"Have you seen a case of Awareness Madness before?"

"A handful of times. It is not lethal by itself as the individual can recover if given help, guidance and treatment. Some may even recover on their own, but those who do not may be driven to seek refuge in things that numb the mind. Sex. Drugs. Alcohol." Lyrius was regarding Serenity with a growing concern. "Do you know someone who has it, Serenity? Are they here in Satellite? I can help them."

"I think, no and I don't know where they are, in that order." Serenity buried her face in her metal hand with a hard, pained groan. "Dear gods, I hate this when happens. New information always makes old cases suddenly seem so simple."

"Serenity…"

"Is there a type of creature with bear like features, six eyes, claws and green black fur like armor?"

"That is a bugbear." Lyrius reached for her hand, his concern becoming worry. "You are distressing yourself. Let me help?"

Serenity gave him a smile. "Thank you, but you can't. I just…" She shook her head. "Look, it's complicated and we've got enough to deal with Weevil. It's not anything pressing, its in the past. And I think I royally messed something up."

"Scars of regret are slow to heal and can be lonely." Lyrius squeezed her hand and shifted uncomfortably, but smiled gently. "And loneliness, as I have been told, is cured by friends."

"Heh. You do listen." Serenity squeezed back and broke their contact, shaking her head again. "What's past is past, I know…"

"Yep." Rex stood, patting her on the shoulder comfortingly. "This is the present and the past likes to drop in like Weevil. Or an uninvited guest to your birthday. Or Weevil. Or a tax collector. Or Weevil."

"I get it. You hate him."

"Hate is too strong a word, that implies I care about him. Go with…" Rex tapped his chin and then pointed at Lyrius. "King! Decree me a word!"

Lyrius drew himself up, almost changing entirely into a different person in the process. There was more presence, more regalness to him. An intensity charged the air almost visibly and when he spoke, it was with the utmost gravitas. "Detest."

"Yeah, I detest him!" Rex snapped his fingers. "Like real bugs!"

Serenity glanced between the two and then just collapsed on the table, head in her arms and sniggering. "You two...just what am I going to do with you?"

"Dunno. But we can try getting drunk. Chases the past away like no other." Rex almost magically produced a bottle of his homemade brew. "Also may lead to sex, bad photo ops and revealing of secrets you didn't even know you had."

"Well, not much else to do." Serenity sat up as Rex poured them glasses. "I vote we get Lyrius drunk. I want to know more about his mysterious past."

"I want to know how you lost your limbs."

"I want get rid of the ashen burger taste by melting my throat." Rex toasted them and glanced around as if suddenly realizing something. "Where's your horse?"

"Out and about."

TTTTTT

"You get it under control, you're the senior Shadowchaser!"

"You saved the world not an hour after being signed up, rookie! A horse shouldn't be that much problem comparably!"

"Not when it has fangs!"

"Oh geeze, climb higher, climb higher! It's jumping!"

Jumping was not a terribly apt word. What Resonae was achieving was somewhere between the careful steps of a mountain goat, with the kind of flourish to them that would have made a prima ballerina burst into jealous tears. The building was so crumbled in places with chunks missing from the cheap cement, that finding purchase was child's play, and what Ember and Jinx had initially believed to be an advantage was swiftly turning into a dead end with only a long hard drop to the ground in sight when their grip gave out.

"I thought you said unicorns were super friendly and loved nature!" Ember yanked a foot up as Resonae's snapping jaw got a little too close for comfort. "We are in the middle of a disaster area and a landfill! There _is no nature!"_

"I think…" Given her position above Ember and her experience, Jinx was calmer. Like a tornado is calmer than a hurricane. "She's a Nightmare."

"Yeah, but I'm not asleep!" Ember eyed the dark black equine as she apparently pondered how to climb further after the two humans.

"They're kind of evil unicorns. Come in two flavors. Flavor one is pegasus that have been caught by the forces of Hell, clipped of their wings and tortured into evil. Flavor two are just naturally occurring ones born under rare circumstances. Supposed to basically nature's savagery incarnate."

"Thank you! Knowing what is going to eat me before it does makes me feel so much better!" Ember snapped sarcastically.

"She isn't going to eat us." Jinx said reassuring. "She's a unicorn. Herbivore. She probably just pissed we entered her territory and kind...of…" Despite their situation, she blushed. "Treated her like a dog and told her to come here and get a treat."

"The treat wasn't supposed to be us! What kind of mentor gets their student into these situations?" Ember grumbled and managed to inch herself a bit higher.

"Hey, you graduated weeks ago. That makes us equals."

"Doesn't mean Anakin stopped calling Obi-Wan master when they both became Jedi Knights."

"I get it, you know Star Wars!" Jinx huffed down at the teenager. "Just don't go evil on me!"

"Well, you do have the high ground!"

Jinx gave a strangled scream into the wall and took stock of their options to avoid kicking at Ember's head in retaliation for the obnoxiousness. Her D-Wheel was parked across the lot, but there was no way get to it from here. And if they did, the unicorn would run them down before they even got it started.

Shifting her grip to keep her fingers from going numb, she felt her sword shift across her shoulder and felt like an idiot. "Ember! Just draw your sword and take a few swings at her. Give us some breathing space!"

"Oh, right." Ember twisted carefully on her perch, hauling her sword free. Making sure she was stable, she swiped at the Nightmare with it sharply. "Get back, unicorn. I know you're mad, but I don't want to hurt you."

Both Shadowchasers gawked as one of Ember's swings, Resonae reared up and ripped the sword out of her hands.

 _(Hurt me? With this?)_

"Jinx...are unicorns intelligent enough to fall under the Great Treaty?" Ember was oddly calm despite the mocking voice that had just echoed in her head.

"Yes, but they don't have a civilization or society or anything. They count as a protected species." Jinx offered, clearly having heard the voice, too.

( _Only to protect you…)_ Resonae clamped down on the sword and there was the sound of metal being forced out of shape. With a theatrical flair, she spat it out and it clattered to the rubble below. There was a neat line of teeth holes in it. ( _From me.)_

"Hey, if you can talk, you know we're not trying to hurt you and I'm glad you can talk to us because you're telepathic. So if you tell us what we did to piss you off, we'll apologize it!" Ember gulped a bit as she eyed the swiss cheese her sword had become. "I was raised right! I know when I mess up!"

"Me, too!" Jinx added, squeaking a bit as her handheld crumble and she slipped down the wall a touch.

( _Apologies won't make you taste any sweeter, humans.)_ The Nightmare grinned, revealing that fang-filled mouth with the same kind of pride one showed off a collection of knives. Dangerous, beautiful and sharp enough to be audible.

"Well, um...yeah…" Ember shifted position again and her duel disk bounced off the wall. "Oh wait! I challenge you to Duel Monsters under the Fair Fight Clause! We're investigating Shadowchase business and need to enter your territory to do so!"

There was a long moment of tense silence...and then both Shadowchasers were treated to the most uproarious mental laughter ever, Resonae herself having to back down a few steps to ensure her shaking body didn't lose its footing.

"...Ember?"

"Yeah?"

"What is wrong with you!?" Jinx hollered down. "You just asked a horse to duel!"

"That's how we take care of everything else! And the Great Treaty-"

"The Treaty doesn't cover things like unicorns in that fashion. Ask Jalal! Things like dragons or giants will just laugh at you because they're too powerful to actually be forced to play!"

"It would have been nice to know that BEFORE I became an official representative of the group!" Ember hollered back, flushing in embarrassment before glancing down at the ground. "And stop laughing!"

Resonae calmed down and smiled up at them again. _(My master was right. Free food is made better by free entertainment. )_

"Yeah, well, your master is going to have a horrible bill in the form of Shadowchasers hunting him to the ends of the Earth if you kill us!" Ember snapped back. "You eat us and you'll be marked forever!"

 _(Good. I enjoy a challenge. And while it would displease my master if I hurt you on a whim, he need not find out.)_ She licked her lips. _(Bones are deliciously crunchy…)_

"What!? You're a vegetarian!" Ember protested with wide eyes.

 _(...you cannot see the forest for the trees, can you? I am a Nightmare, human. Unicorns are nature's friends, I am nature's sword.)_ Resonae clambered down a bit more and turned her back on them. ( _Allow me to demonstrate.)_

"Oh crap, Ember, get off the wall, get off the wall!" Jinx put action to words, moving as fast as she could towards a hole into the building's interior and already knowing it was too late.

Resonae's rear hooves slammed into the wall like a well-placed boxer's punch. The wall, weakened from years of disuse and bad weather, exploded with a spider-web of cracks everywhere. The two Shadowchasers yelped in panic as their handholds and footholds crumbled away and they both crashed to the ground below hard.

The Nightmare casually trotted up to the two groaning heaps, eyeing them over like a person eyed over heads of lettuce in the produce department. _(Please, struggle. You taste better the way.)_

"Oh, the hell I'm going to die at the hooves of a bitchy horse." Ember got to her feet and cracked her knuckles. "I saved the world a month ago from flooding so big, the last time it happened it was an act of God! You don't even measure up!"

Resonae cocked her head at the human, then shrugged and bared her fangs before advancing on her. _(Save the word, but can't save yourself. You are going to be a DELICIOUS irony.)_

There was a screeching multitude of caws and Resonae reared away as a flurry of crows descended from all directions around the two Shadowchasers. They were bigger than normal, nearly the size of hawks and had four beady red eyes. ( _No! That is my food! Mine!)_

The whirlwind of wings and cawing scattered away as the Nightmare snapped and pawed at them angrily. With a eerie unison of purpose, the flock reformed into their little whirlwind a good distance away. Then they all fell utterly silent, leaving on the beating of their unified wingbeats to fill the air as they flew away to reveal the two unhurt Shadowchasers there.

"Okay, that was weird…" Ember groaned. "Does this count as your streak of good luck or bad luck, Jinx?"

"Eh, at this point, just flip a coin." Jinx sat up and rubbed her head. "What was...whoa."

"Whoa what?" Ember followed Jinx's stare. "Oh. Whoa."

In front of them was a tall woman who was almost a statue - rigid posture and the crisp, tight lines of her ringmaster's uniform and boots. Even the ringlets of her ashen gray hair seemed carved of marble, not daring to bounce or shift a hair out of place.

Silence filled the clearing and the women turned, peering over her shoulder at the two Shadowchasers. Both of them flinched at the sight of the heavy scarring, blinding scarring visible beneath her half-moon glasses. "Your next words should be 'thank you.'"

"How many packs a day do you _smoke?_ You gravel a road with that voice!" Ember 'meeped' as the woman gave her a look and her hands flew out over her mouth. "Sorry!"

The woman looked over at Jinx.

"Thanks. You're…" She squinted at the new arrival. "An Incantifer, aren't you?"

"Yes. My name is Rayearth. I am a Shadowchaser." Thusly identified, she turned back to Resonae and pointed at the Nightmare. "And this is our lead on that Shadow Duel."

Resonae snorted angrily and pawed the ground, her horn lighting up slowly.

"I'm going to have a word with your owner, Nightmare." Rayearth produced a slender wand from her sleeve and twirled it idly in her fingers. As she did, it slowly lengthened until was good six foot in length. "Do you have a problem with that?"

Resonae charged, fiery mane flying and fangs bared wide.

"Excellent." Rayearth smiled mirthlessly.

TTTTTTT

Serenity hummed to herself as she walked down the dusty street towards home. Rex's drink wasn't all that strong and getting drunk off of it meant you had to imbibe enough to kill you, but she was pleasantly buzzed. Enough so that her little song was enough to distract her from the fact the breeze coming off the ocean was carrying the smell of rot and debris right in her face. She hoped when Daedalus Bridge was finished and the old Domino City was connected with Neo Domino City, they'd make an effort to clean up the waste they'd thrown everywhere and stop pouring trash onto the island.

Her thoughts turned back to the conversation they had had earlier, about Weevil and how he had become so rotten and how more and more people like him were showing up. Or maybe they were becoming like that because they were in Satellite. Neo Domino had been using the island as its junkyard for so long that people who were 'trash' in someone's eyes got dumped here like everything else. And even new things could become trash if left in the grunge long enough. Even people.

Maybe _especially_ people. Serenity had been on Satellite for over twelve years and she had lost count of the number of times that one Duel Gang or another had gotten too strong for their own good and thought they could rule Satellite and take on Sector Security. The resulting squabbles for the scraps nearly always ended in bloodshed or worse. And those were just the least of the island's problems. Criminals all kinds wound up here and so many, already dangerous, became more so when they couldn't satisfy their greed with what little there was to eke out an existence, even if you stole from a dozen people.

She flexed her metal arm unconsciously, her buzz waning. One of those increasingly dangerous people had crashed into her clinic to try and finish the job he'd started with one of her patients. He'd succeeded, helped himself to her medical supplies and then tried to help himself to her. If Rex hadn't shown up when he did, she'd have lost more than her arm.

It was a a great irony that Rex Raptor had become one of the few people she could rely on in Satellite when all she had known about him previously was from her brother and about how he was a duelist who lost himself in trying get back his fifteen minutes of fame for years, holding such a grudge against Joey and Mai that he'd become rather infamous for it. To the point of showing up publicly drunk to duel one or the other on more than one occasion.

Now he just owned a little watering hole, taught kids to play Duel Monsters and did what he could to take others mind's off their troubles. He apparently had gotten up to a _lot_ in the last forty years - she'd known him for the last fourteen and he'd never told the same story twice. There were some he'd swore he'd never tell, except to say that he and Weevil had done some bad things and those things were the reason he said he was at home in Satellite - a broken piece of garbage patched up with whatever someone could find.

Serenity found herself wondering about her tennant and what exactly he had done to be so broken. She had been serious when she'd said she believed his story about his age and he was a former king and what little else he had shared. But it wasn't nearly enough of an explanation towards what she saw in those tired eyes. What was in them was something she had seen in too many patients wherever she had worked. They had given up on even giving up - whatever happened, happened and they went through just enough of the motions to keep their head above water purely on reflex.

When this business with Weevil was resolved in one way or another, Lyrius would stop progressing forwards and let life happen to him. The thought killed her buzz like a flyswatter wielded by the sour notion that it was a doctor's lot in life to fight losing battles when the patients themselves became deadweight without actually dying.

She acknowledged her professional bitterness and then kicked it to the curb along with the tin can in her path with all the professional strength she could muster. A doctor battled physical ailments with medicine and despair with hope. Lyrius hung around her because, somewhere, he felt she could do something he hadn't been able to do himself. It was a slim, tenuous thread of hope, but she'd woven less into greater before.

It was with that thought in mind that she shouldered open the door to her home and went in search of her friend.

Which took all of two seconds.

Lyrius had excused himself earlier from their little get together, wanting to go search for more clues for Weevil. Judging from the amount of rust and dirt, he'd been doing just that. It could have not been for all that long, given he was resting his head on her table sleeping and the bottle near him was nearly empty.

She picked it up and took a sniff. The sweet smell was encouraging and she took a experimental sip. And nearly lost her lunch at the sickening sweet taste, coughing and spluttering. A bottle of mastika was _not_ what she'd expected Lyrius to get drunk off of.

How he had gotten it to Satellite, she could only guess. But it was clear why he had it - Rex's homebrew wasn't nearly enough to get him drunk. To help him be numb and to forget…whatever it was he felt needed ignoring.

Replacing the bottle, she glanced down at the Duel Monsters cards spread across her table like leaves, probably knocked aside when he had put his head down. Like most Satellite Duelists, his deck was piecemeal hodgepodge of whatever he could put together. But it wasn't bad by any means and those strange Xyz monsters weren't something she'd ever seen before at all.

But years of picking up after her brother and his girlfriend told her that leaving the cards lying around was just asking for them to get lost. She began to sweep them together carefully and paused when a series of blank cards caught her eye. "Wha..?"

She had seen blank cards before, but these were different. Lacking text or imagery, but possessing a awkward grayish look that shifted oddly in the light. Like they were just fogged over. As she touched one, the surface rippled like water and she cocked her head before shrugging. "Right. Magic cards."

Shuffling them together, she grabbed Lyrius' Duel Disk where it lay nearby and started to pull the few cards he had stuck into it at apparently random. At least judging by the monster in the field spell zone. Then she paused again as she noticed the monster card placed in the middle slot. It had no title, text or stats. Only the image of a beautiful woman sitting on a throne.

Curiosity won out over caution and she twisted it to attack position and nearly jumped as the duel disk activated with a quiet hum. A quick glance at Lyrius showed he was still too far gone to notice.

" _My beloved Lyrius."_

Serenity swung her head around. Standing in her kitchen was the women she could only surmise to be Lyrius' wife. She certainly looked the part of a queen. Her features were regal, well sculpted and carried every sense of entitlement and the confidence that came with it. Her clothing was similarly impressive, and nestled in her hair was a circlet of the darkest silver - understated for a crown, but by no means less striking for it.

" _This is goodbye."_ A small mirthless smile. _"I know you more than I know myself, Lyrius and as of upon receiving this card, you are more than likely filled to the brim with grief, pain and frustration and looking for the fastest way down to the Abyss. Your love and loyalty do you no small amount of credit and I expect no less from my Shadow King."_

Her smile vanished as her face hardened. _"But history has forgotten us. We may rule Arcadia, but to the world at large, we aren't even a myth. No heroes or angels storm our doorstep nor demons bargain with us and Google only speaks of that blasted Mario game in reference to me. Even these...Shadowchasers, whom so long we considered a threat, have never given Arcadia more than a cursory glance. So it is my last command that you, too, forget us. Forget me. Forever."_

She continued on, Lyrius shuffling a bit in the brief gap of words. " _My fate is my own to suffer and however nobly you wish to endure with it me, you must not. You_ cannot. _I command you to live, Lyrius Stormcloud. Live and find your own way in the new era. Do not linger in the past and brood over all that has gone by and what might have been different. I have done more than enough of that for the both of us."_

The woman fell silent, obviously searching for words and obviously unused to having doing so. _"You are strong, Lyrius. Stronger than I could ever hope to be. I had to turn to dark powers to gain what I wanted, but you merely simply had to try, to push, to endure. Use that in your new life. Find the path that will bring you happiness."_

Her expression softened. " _This...is the last time you will see me as I am. Graz'zt does not forgive failure from one he has invested so much in. I cannot begin to imagine my torment, but I know that Graz'zt will do more than his best to destroy the entirety of the Shadow Queen's stain upon existence. He made me, he will unmake me and he will put me together again in whatever suits his twisted whims. I will not allow that to happen to you, beloved. The Shadow Queen is your master…"_

She reached up and pulled the crown from her hair, shaking her hair loose and suddenly, she looked so much younger, happier. All the pains and torments taken away with that crown. _"But Iris Stormcloud is your wife. And we both only ever want for your happiness. For me, please endure and love again. I know that in a hundred lifetimes we would have a hundred more times to stay at each other's side...but we only ever get the one. And it was more than enough."_

A wane, sad, resigned smile. _"Never forget that I love you. Forever and for always."_

The woman faded away, the message clearly over. Serenity swallowed the hard lump of sadness in her throat and glanced down at the still out Lyrius. "I expected from your stories that she was one hell of a woman. Didn't think it would be so literally…"

"You got that right." Serenity, startled, whirled to face the speaker. Standing the doorway to the house was the red-haired Shadowchaser Rex had described earlier, Ember. And she was holding a sword and looking fierce. "Now please step aside. That guy is bad news."

"You broke into my home!?" Serenity gawked at the teen's boldness.

"The door was unlocked and I had to return that stupid horse." Ember gestured with her sword for Serenity to step aside again. "Good thing, too."

Serenity pointed out the door. "Get out of my house!"

"Lady, look, that Shadow Queen woman? She tried to conquer the world, sacrificed a _lot_ of people to demon lords, hurt a lot _more_ innocent people and came _this_ close to escaping and doing it all over again. My teammates don't scare easy, but they talk about her with dead seriousness." Ember said warningly. "Just because she was a nicey-nice to him doesn't mean he's not just as bad as she was."

"He's passed out drunk and saved my life from that Shadow Duel!" Serenity countered curtly. "You don't even know him!"

"I know his horse! And she tried to eat me! And she _did_ eat my sword after I tried to hit her with it!" She spared her replacement weapon a glare.

"You hurt poor Resonae!?" Serenity was beside herself. "The poor thing is starving and gives kids pony rides anyway! What is _wrong_ with you!?"

"You let _kids_ near that thing!" Ember looked like she couldn't believe what she was hearing. Then she narrowed her eyes. "Yeah, I'm taking him in. Ten to one, he was involved in that shadow duel a couple of days ago. I need to stop this before it gets worse."

"He was involved, stopping the one who caused it!"

"Then my job just got a lot simpler."

Serenity buried her face in her palm. "I forgot how teenager logic works. Look, just get out of my house and go away."

"Yeah, no." Ember moved forwards and scowled when Serenity barred her way. She raised her weapon pointedly."I don't want to hit an old lady, but you are clearly not aware of how dangerous this situation really is."

"You're the one with a sword!"

"I-" That was all Ember managed as suddenly a dark blur shot past Serenity and then the Shadowchaser slammed into a wall hard.

It was after a few dazed seconds she realized she was in the wall _across_ the street. "What hit me!?"

A powerful hand seized her throat and hoisted her in the air like she weighed nothing. Lyrius' dark eyes were hard as ice, sending a chill of fear down the Shadowchaser's spine. "Stay away from her."

"You first...nutjob." Ember's sword came up, but Lyrius' free hand caught her wrist and twisted. With a pained cry, the sword fell to the ground.

Lyrius' grip tightened and Ember wheezed for air, spots forming on the edges of her vision. "Your idiocy will cost you your life, Shadowchaser."

There was an angry snort, hooves on pavement and then Lyrius went flying as Resonae plowed into him like a fiery freight train. Ember sucked down a couple of lungfuls of air and got unsteadily back to her feet. She grabbed for her sword, but a metal foot slammed down on it. The Shadowchaser glanced up to see Serenity glaring down at her. "He just attacked me! Lemme have my sword or he'll finish the job!"

"The sword started the problem, young lady." Serenity said with sharp authority and Ember felt herself wilt under the doctor's gaze. "It isn't going to be the solution."

Lyrius was busy trying to disentangle himself from Resonae, but the Nightmare had bowled him over and was sprawled over him. Trapped under her body as he was, all he could really do was struggle and avoid her glare. "Release me."

She just whinnied and didn't budge. ( _No. You're being stupid. And unmindful of yourself.)_

"Resonae, release me."

The Nightmare didn't bother to respond, just leaned down and pointedly shook her head in his face obnoxiously.

"Ember, all we did was ask you to walk the unicorn home! What the hell!?" Jinx's voice actually drowned out her D-Wheel's motor, the Shadowchaser skidding to a halt near the little confrontation. "What's going on!?"

"That guy was involved in the shadow duel and that Shadow Queen lady you were all talking about awhile ago." Ember said quickly, edging a hand towards her sword and yanking it back when Serenity cuffed the back of her head. "That's mine, dang it!"

"Okay…" Jinx removed her helmet and took in the situation a second time. "You do realize that pulling a sword just made things worse, right?"

"But he's dangerous!" Ember protested. "He had a personal message from the Shadow Queen and everything!"

"You're the one who broke into my home with a sword." Serenity snapped.

" _This is why you're still green, child."_ Rayearth's gravely voice heralded the arrival of the murderous flock of crows that resolved back into the Incantifer. "Your judgement is severely lacking and your recklessness could have cost you your life."

She walked up to Serenity and doffed her hat with a short bow. "I do apologize for my comrade's behavior. Since the violence is at an end, would you hand me her sword?"

Serenity did so and the Incantifer somehow made the weapon vanish up her sleeve. She made a gesture and Ember was yanked to her feet like someone was pulling on her with puppet strings. "I had a feeling that you were promoted too much out of necessity and not enough preparation. But there is no better way to gain experience than to make mistakes...and then correct them."

"Well, I'm gonna apologize. I'm not evil, you know."

"Not quite what I had in mind. If this man and this lady are involved in what happened earlier, then we need to interview them. And then assign them protection and assistance." Rayearth smiled ruthlessly as Ember's slowly dawning horror. "Oh, I do so love it when you all do that…"

"But...stay here in Satellite? Where am I going to sleep?!"

Serenity just smiled with false sweetness. "Resonae's got room in her shed."

The Nightmare's smile was far more hungry than it had a right to be.

TTTTT

 _See you all next time._


	3. Afterlife On Earth

Kintsugi  
By 7th Librarian

Chapter 3: Afterlife on Earth

"Hey, you think you can handle this?"

Resonae nodded, a mocking grin on her face.

Ember narrowed her eyes. "I'll wipe that smirk off your face."

Resonae pretend to look thoughtful, then just smiled with all her fangs.

The Shadowchaser grabbed a checker and jumped it over the black one sitting all by its lonesome on the far side of the board. "King me!"

Resonae stared, then leaned her head down, gently picking up a black checker in her teeth. Ember sat and watched with slowly widening eyes as the unicorn slowly jumped the single black piece over four of hers and landing square on Ember's last side of the board.

"You used magic!" Ember insisted defensively.

Resonae looked as innocent as newborn babe.

Ember scowled and stuck her tongue out. "I don't forgive you for trying to eat me."

Resonae stuck out her lower lip and blinked, her eyes big and soft.

"Never!"

Resonae managed the unicorn's version of a shrug and then reared up, opening her mouth wide.

"...fine!" Grabbing a sugar cube from the stack near her on plate, Ember chucked it into the unicorn's open mouth. "I still have more than you!"

TTTTTTTT

"The horse plays checkers." Serenity blinked at the scene taking place in her patio as she set a tray with glasses on her table in front of her three guests. "Badly, even."

"Resonae is far more intelligent than a simple horse and far less of an expert than a child." Lyrius said. He didn't seem to have any sort of hangover despite the amount he had drank the night before, though he had procured a pair of sunglasses. Satellite's ever-present haze generally blocked out a good chunk of the sunlight. But there was a gap on the horizon line between ocean and cloud and Serenity's kitchen got a full dose of it every morning.

He regarded the other occupants of the table. Serenity was in a pleasant mood, even up early to prepare a mild breakfast of toast and vegetable stir fry. Every so often, she'd catch Lyrius looking in her direction and just smile knowingly, like they were sharing a secret. But given the amount of magic that had happened in the last twenty-four hours and how she was involved, it was probably the most exciting thing that happened in a while.

Jinx and Rayearth had split a night patrol and the human Shadowchaser had just wandered in half an hour ago. Her hair was limp and her eyes were tired, reflecting that she hadn't found hide nor hair of anything suspicious. But by the way she was chowing down and she was half on, half-off her chair Lyirus suspected she was not the type to give up easily and was simply gearing up for more work.

The raven blinked its four eyes, one after another, from where it was perched on the back of a chair and politely ducked its head to sip from the glass of water in front of it. Lyrius idly wondered how a beak functioned with so many little teeth.

"- it's not like I was expecting much. The Dark Signers left a pretty big power gap that no one's in a hurry to fill." Jinx was saying around a mouthful. "Satellite is...well, Satellite. You aren't going get much out of it and I got plenty of reports of petty theft - cards, D-Wheel parts, food, etc, etc. But no one's seen so much as a oversized cockroach, let alone Weevil."

"Pretty sure all the stray cats get the bugs…" Serenity picked at her food and speared a forkful of pak choi. "But he has to crawl from under his rock sometime. Satellite isn't that big."

"Weevil insinuated that he had gathered a fair amount of resources. Enough to equip a good number of duelists. With the removal of the Dark Signers and other Shadowkind criminal elements, someone must have abandoned ship to strike out on their own. But why would they entrust any of it to Weevil, especially a Millennium Item copy?" Lyrius helped himself to his own meal.

"We took down Louis DaPen recently. I know we didn't get everything he had. And he would have a good number of pipelines to smuggle goods in and out of here and into Neo Domino." Jinx choked a bit before gulping down some water. "Ahhhhh. We find one of those former employees, we'll get our lead."

"But no success yet. It has been three days since Weevil tried to control me and my companions, yet no one reports anything similar happening to anyone they know."

"Jinx, you said that that the B.A.D. Area was a…'chill grill', right? A place with a lot of dead energy and stuff?" At Jinx's encouraging nod, Serenity continued. "Could he be raising the dead?"

"Not likely." Lyrius answer was immediate. "Necromancy is a difficult branch of magic to learn and raising the dead on a large scale takes more preparation and tools that Satellite could provide. And there are no physical remains in the B.A.D area to animate. At best, in this area, you could get a few complete human skeletons and some dead fish. Not to mention raising the dead defeats the purpose of having a mind-controlling Item."

He pause as he caught Jinx eyeing him suspiciously. "Yes?"

"You know a lot about necromancy and trying to do it here."

"I dabble. And study."

Jinx narrowed her eyes, but then went back to her food before starting as a piece of meat jumped and twitched like it was alive. "Very funny!"

"I think so." Lyrius was indeed smiling and Serenity was giggling behind her hand.

Jinx speared the dancing piece of meat on her fork and raised it, eyeing it. "What is this anyway?"

"Snake."

Jinx' eyes widened.

"Or it might be rat." Serenity was struggling to keep from bursting out laughing.

"No, I think Resonae has had a decimating effect on the rat population."

Jinx stared at it, then shrugged and yelped as the crow suddenly darted out and snatched the morsel off her fork. "Hey!"

The raven merely treated them all to the disturbing sight of a beaked animal chewing slowly and meticulously, then swallowed audibly.

"Whatevs." Jinx went back to her food, ignoring Serenity's laughter. "Point being, we're still at zero leads."

"Then we go flip up every rock until we find what we need to crush," Lyrius declared, getting to his feet. His only concession to his hangover was to waver for half a second before pulling himself upright. As if to emphasis his point, the checkerboard and pieces went flying in the background behind him, unicorn and Shadowchaser descending into a brawl.

"There is one rock we're already investigating." Jinx mumbled around her toast. " The B.A.D area. We put a bunch of wards on it after the Signers beat the Dark Signers and that's why there's a raven at the table instead of Rayearth. She's doing magical mumbo-jumbo."

"What about House Peters?" Serenity asked suddenly. "He's usually got a finger in nearly everything that goes on here."

Jinx gave her an appraising look. "Who's he? A narc? Smuggler?"

"Smuggler. He is how I got into Satellite. But his trips go one way. He never takes anything off the island. Presumably to keep everyone beholden to him, given the prices and favors he asks for. Thanks to the Daedalus Bridge, his operation would be useless. He may be willing to assist another if meant keeping his power or isolating Satellite again." Lyrius walked over to Serenity's closet and pulled out a sheathed sword that he buckled to his waist.

"Not supposed to have that." Jinx said mildly. "That looks magical. But so is this food and I don't see that because I'm still hungry."

"You are awfully trusting." Serenity pointed out as she piled more food onto the younger woman's plate.

"I have had little sleep, I don't know this smuggler and if he's Shadowkind, he's gonna see my Shadowchaser mark like a beacon. And I'm assuming he's named 'House Peters' because he's built like one. Also, your friend there came with some good references."

Serenity frowned. "References? What references?"

Jinx pointed at the raven, which was fluttering across the kitchen to land on Lyrius shoulder.

"I thought you said you'd never heard of Rayearth."

"I haven't. Our groups kinda small, but we're spread so thin we can't all meet each other. But she is one of us, she had orders in paper form proving she was assigned to investigate the gate to the Netherworld and a single Incantifer has forgotten more about magic than me and my teammates combined."

"And she knows Lyrius?"

"I think so. She wasn't clear, but she mention that about five years ago, there was this incident on Arcadia and the Shadowchasers tried to recruit the three teens who helped solve it. It didn't work out, but-" Jinx paused to wash down her toast with more water. "Lyrius apparently showed up around the same time they did and trained a bit under one of Rayearth's teammates. Rayearth said their conclusions about him were 'Skilled, intelligent and looking for something they couldn't give him.' "

She shrugged. "That said, given what he tried to do Ember last night, drunkness not withstanding, Rayearth is confident she can handle him if things go awry."

"Does this sort of thing happen often?"

"All the time." Jinx punctuated her point by waving her fork in the air. "We're trying to keep peace and ease tensions for a gazillion factions and religions. Today's enemy could be tomorrow's ally. The world of magic likes to think its clear-cut, but it has _people_ in it and people are anything but."

"I see…" Serenity finished clearing her plate slowly. "I bet its pretty hard to cope with, learning all this magic exists and all the religions and everything." She glanced out the sliding door to where Ember and Resonae were now arm-wrestling. "How is Ember doing?"

"Good. Almost too good." Jinx nodded out at the younger Shadowchaser. "She took being an Aware okay, but we were dealing with a crisis and her training was on the fly - one little brush fire after another. On top of that, she saved the world on the day she became a full-fledged Shadowchaser. But, I think that now we have some relative peace, the cracks are starting to show."

"Like breaking into my home?"

"Like that. Ember's only eighteen and accomplished a lot, but it hasn't hit home that ninety-nine percent of the world doesn't even know what she did. Or that that's her _job_. Her judgement isn't up to par when it comes to situations like this - where the world behind the Veil gets crossed with the rest and there isn't any government to cover it all up." Jinx stood, grabbing her dishes to put them in the sink. "She needs more mundane things in her life to balance her out. Speaking of which…"

She opened the sliding door, leaning out. "Hey, Ember! Quit screwing around with the pony and get in here and do the lady's dishes and cleaning!"

"...what!?" Ember stood, dusting herself off. "But I haven't eaten yet!"

"Yeah, well, you went and jacked around last night, breaking in and then trying get revenge against a unicorn. Actions have consequences." Jinx informed her bluntly. "Which means you help the lady and are stuck with hunger pains until lunch."

"We may not be able to have lunch." Serenity chimed in, both older women relishing the teen's shocked expression.

"Why not?"

"We're all out of snake meat." Serenity said and then added. "Unless you're willing to catch some. I think there's a nest near the waterfront."

Ember made a little whimpering noise in her throat.

TTTTTTT

"Why are you here?" Rayearth's smoky voice was altogether unsettling coming out of the raven's beak, but there was no mistaking the command behind the question.

"There is an ocean keeping me from leaving." Lyrius responded dryly.

The raven chuckled, the motion making its teeth clack together. "I will rephrase. Why did you come here?"

"I am the Sword of St. Cuthbert. It is my god-given mission-"

"Yes I'm aware of the party line. Now try saying it like you actually believe it," the Incantifer clucked her beak in a disapproving fashion. "...you walked away, didn't you?"

"Yes."

"They're out looking for you, you know. As are the Knights of Domiel. They don't take kindly to people who go back on their oaths and use dark magic."

"I made no oath to St. Cuthbert or his church. My sword apparently gained intelligence and begged the deity to give me a second chance so I could wield it once more."

"And you've thrown that chance away?"

"It is not a second chance when I have no freedom of my own and so many strings attached. I was constantly watched, constantly gazed down upon. If there were any who wished me kindness among their number, I did not encounter them."

"Perhaps that was a test. To see if you could cope with being regarded as the monster you think yourself."

"Ordering me to attack Dracula says that they did not have my best interests at heart."

The raven's eyes all widened before narrowing. "Is _that_ was that ruckus a few years ago in Serbia was about? Justina reported an entire castle being torn apart and a note taped on the front door. 'Sorry for the mess, Shadowchasers. Was getting bored here, anyway. Laterz. - Dracula.' "

" 'Ruckus' implies that we had fun. There was nothing of the sort." Lyrius felt the memories stir in him and his face tightened. Dracula had been waiting for him, offered him a drink before they started...then the battle had been a blur. The pouring rain, destroying everything in sight wantonly, pain and blood everywhere as it had progressed through the night. From the tallest tower, to the basement and back again.

And that vampire's face, looking at him such forlorn sadness and pity. It was infuriating to the point it didn't stir his anger, but his frustration. She had fought him without fighting him, letting him burn out against the wall that was her defenses. Hadn't even tried to kill him, just fought back enough force him to dance on the edge between life and death. But in which direction she wanted him to fall was unknowable and the thought was still a smoldering ember of unshed fury, even after all the years between it and his present...

"You are frightening the locals." The raven noted, drawing his attention back to the waking world and the fact people were starting to cross the street to avoid him or ducking into whatever building was handy nearby. "You're releasing too much killing intent. Calm yourself."

"Perhaps it is the demonic bird talking on my shoulder that frightens them." Lyrius retorted, but did a breathing exercise to let his tension melt away.

"Why did you heed the order to attack Dracula?"

"The Order promised that they would grant me assistance in rescuing the soul of my wife in the Abyss. Their 'assistance' is simply locating a way to the enter the Abyss, which is something I already know. When they made it clear that I was redeeming myself by simply performing 'good' actions until I was killed, I departed."

"I see. And what of the sword you had? It must have been very powerful and magical to have gained a manner of empathy."

"It was stolen from me."

"By who?"

"The Order of St. Cuthbert, the Knights of Domiel, I do not know. Or truly care. _Oblivion_ had become nothing of what it was when it was crafted for me. I could not even unleash its full power. Those who took it from me claimed it was a 'holy sword' and I saw no reason to doubt them. It was wielded by a paladin who defeated my wife centuries ago and I have not the time nor patience to wait centuries more to bring it back into alignment with myself."

The raven nodded in understanding. "Empathic weapons are poor choices if not attuned to their wielders. Have you sought a replacement?"

"...no."

Rayearth would never have believed it possible, but Lyrius seemed to become even more curt and closed off than he had been before. Her head tilted to the side, and her four eyes blinked. "You willingly leave yourself at a disadvantage?" she accused.

"Disadvantaged against what?"

"The Earthbound Immortals."

"I was not meant to fight them, so I did not."

"But you wanted to."

"As did the Shadowchasers."

"We did not want to fight them like they were a monster movie." Rayearth countered evenly. "But I get the feeling that you came here hoping you could. What a frightening emotion, hope, making a human think he had a chance against gods."

"There is always a chance, woman." Lyrius snapped.

"Ah, but what kind of chance were you hoping for?"

Lyrius scowled at the raven, the person he had been passing by immediately darting into an alleyway. "We are going to talk about something else. Or travel in silence. Choose."

Rayearth was non-plussed by his cool fury. "Have you sought to find a replacement weapon?"

" _Oblivion_ was crafted from my very soul and quenched in my wife's blood and magic. It was a weapon to rival even Excalibur. Recreating a new one is impossible and I have no wish to beholden myself to a deity or other power to acquire an equivalent."

"There are powers outside of the divine or demonic, human. Many master smiths litter the world and most are driven enough by their craft that they would forge a weapon for a warrior like you quite gladly."

"Few would if so many holy organizations are after me as you say, fewer still would bother because I cannot afford even food and none to my satisfaction."

"A clever answer to everything, but cannot find the right questions to ask of yourself." The raven gave him chuckle that clacked its teeth together when he fixed it with another glare. "Ellen Roman."

"A smith?"

"That is too narrow a description of what she does. She is a crafter, creating all manners of weapons and arms and lives on the island of Pleasureland. She also specializes in unique materials and dovetailing her creations to their intended wielders."

"And how am I to afford such a talented individual?"

"Plunder from those who have ill-gotten gains or bounty hunt." The raven blinked its eyes in a zig-zag pattern that gave Lyrius impression it was smirking. "Challenge her. Intrigue her. Were you at your peak capabilities, she would be inspired enough to see if she could craft a weapon fit your uniqueness."

"My peak?" Lyrius asked in annoyance. "As if any who are in Satellite are in perfect health."

"You show many signs of wear and tear, Lyrius. Sunken cheek bones, scars and scratches, an unkempt mane of hair. Your aura is corrupted, fatigued and crumbling and full of holes. You are strained and faded, blurry at the edges." The raven shuffled its wings, clucking at him again.

He swept the bird off his shoulder with sharp motion, uncaring as it nearly crashed to the ground before fluttering into the air enough to drift above his head. "We walk in silence, bird."

"Do try and hear yourself think while we're at it."

 _"Enough."_

TTTTTT

"This place gives me the creeps." Weevil muttered as he stalked after his hooded benefactor. Even in daylight, the B.A.D area was unpleasant. Ashen and thick with feeling of tragedy and loss that was augmented by the pure lonely wind that whispered desperately without warning.

"Areas of great tragedy often carry such feelings, echoes and ghosts trying to make themselves heard and not aware that they're already dead…" The figure returned without looking over their shoulder. Unlike Weevil, even the ruffling of their cape's hem across the barren surface failed to stir any dust. "And those attuned to magic, it is even more so when the whole place is bleeding darkness."

"Is that why I feel like I'm marching in the Arctic? Or is that just you?" Weevil grumbled.

"Well, I'm undead. If a beating heart radiates warmth, a still one steals it from the air. Poetic, don't you think?"

"Not even. You're a zombie and I know why, too." Weevil pointed at him with the Star he had. "It's so I can't use this on you."

"Oh, no, that's a side benefit, Weevil. I have been dead for many years and only so that I may continue to live." The figure lead Weevil on an apparently random path towards a damaged structure looming out of the ground. With its damage, corrosion and more, it filled the part of an evil lord's fortress to the barren and twisted landscape. "Would you like to join me? Being a lich has so many benefits."

"Not happening. I can't be king if I'm dead. I want them to fear my power, not my appearance, you bag of bones."

"Fair enough. And I doubt your skeleton would be any more intimidating than you are with flesh." The figure laughed as Weevil growled threateningly. "Your temper is as short as your stature."

"I'm warning you, don't cross me!" Weevil glowered and held up the Star, the item glowing fiercely and the Eye of Horus forming on his head. "You said I had the greatest potential to use this thing and even if I can't control your mind, I can still make you hurt!"

A bony hand shot out as the figure whirled, but sparked off a golden flash of energy from the Star. The figure examined bits of smoke wisping from their fingers and then laughed again. "Oh, that is much better than even you were yesterday. You are mastering your shadow powers quickly in such a short time."

"I told you when you gave this to me, I am going to be king!" Weevil's fist tightened and the eye on his forehead blazed. "And no one - not you, not Wheeler, not even that dark haired boogeyman and his nightmare horse - is going to stop me!"

"Alas, it is not my intention to become king of an ant hill." Even thick with a rasp, the skeleton's mocking tones were easily discernable. "And if you had more brains than ambition, it would not be yours, either."

"You little-" Weevil's eyes narrowed at the insult and his Item flashed, a golden glow surrounding the skeleton. "You really think I'd be content with just this puny island!? It's just a stepping stone!"

"To what end?" The skeleton didn't seem bothered it was immobilized.

"To my greatness! My destiny!"

"You speak words, but not any with meaning." The skeleton's meaning was clear - chastising disappointment.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't just blow you into another pile of dust!"

"That dark haired boogeyman and his nightmare horse." The skeleton watched as the strain of using his Item's magic got to Weevil, the Eye of Horus fading away along with the golden glow surrounding him. "He trounced you so easily, didn't he? You can't control him and you cannot beat him directly. Not without my help."

"All you've helped me do is walk around in the desert!" Weevil barked, clearly not trying to show the fatigue he was feeling.

"You lost your D-Wheel. Otherwise, we could have drove."

Weevil gawked at him, but the skeleton's featureless face betrayed nothing. Then the insect duelist's face twisted into a frustrated pout. "Fine. Whatever. How do you expect hiding in this dump will help us beat him?!"

"If you cannot control him or defeat him, control something that will." The skeleton turned backward and continued its brisk trudge forwards.

"Now you're the one talking with no meaning!" Weevil begrudgingly kept marching after it. "How can I control something to kill him if it's stronger than him? It would kill me!"

"Logical thinking. Also too linear. You forget you are working with magic, Weevil. And magic is not a power itself, it is the power to _seize_ power." The skeleton led him into the decayed building. A clicking snap of its fingers and a pair of fireballs ignited at head height to drift around them lazily and provide illumination. "But since you are rather dense and blind, I suppose an active demonstration will sell you on the notion."

"What's it going to be - me blowing you to bits and you putting yourself back together? I-" Weevil's further snark failed to materialize as they stepped off into a side room. The room was spartan to the point of being gutted and would have been unremarkable for Satellite except for the gaping hole in the and accompanying tunnel. Both slick with dark miasma and pale white flames. "What's this supposed to be?"

"Zero Reverse blew open the Gate to the Netherworld and allowed the Earthbound Immortals freedom. Despite their defeat, there are still cracks here and there. This part of the B.A.D area is over one." The lich pointed a bony finger down into the tunnel. "This particular tunnel leads a little ways under Satellite and into what's left of the Domino Museum."

"The Museum? That was destroyed in Zero Reverse."

"Not all of it. What's left simply sunk. And through a stroke of luck, it was buried under enough rubble to make sure it's not flooded with water." The lich laughed a little Weevil backed away from hole. "Afraid I might knock you into it?"

"I don't like the idea of going for a swim, especially with the water from this dump. It'll melt the flesh from my bones and looking like you is a fate worse than death." Weevil grunted and glowered. "So what's the big idea of bringing me to see a hole?"

"Where do you think I got your little accessory?" Metal chimed as the lich tapped the Star, Weevil scowling and tugging it away from the undead being's touch. "It was hosting a large Egyptian exhibit when Zero Reverse happened. The Star was down there, among other things. Including what you're going to get."

"I'm not an errand boy!"

"It's not for me, it's for you, Weevil." The lich said placatingly. "Part of the exhibit contained several stone slabs with images of Duel Monsters on them. Those slabs hold the spirits of those monsters. And your Millennium Star can call them out."

Weevil eyed him suspiciously, fingering the Star. Magic was real enough and Yugi had had that Pharaoh spirit with him, so Ancient Egyptian Duel Monsters weren't much of a stretch. "And why didn't you just grab them and whatever?"

"There was a mummy down there and our encounter there went...poorly…" The lich peeled back its robe, revealing a golden scarab half-fused/half-melted into its breastbone and rib cage. "It put a spell on my body that is supposed to protect it from corruption and protect my soul."

At Weevil's confused expression, the lich gave of a rattling sigh. "Egyptians believed that your soul remained connected to your body after death. That's why there are mummies and why they were so well preserved in tombs. If your corpse was hurt, the same would happen to your soul."

"But you're already dead.."

"Well, the principle is the same…" The lich reached over with a hand towards the miasma. The moment it tried to cross, however, golden light sheathed the limb and the air hissed nastily as the two forces pushed on one another. The lich pulled the limb away, revealing steaming fingertips. "But it means I cannot cross the flames of the Netherworld."

"What about the mummy?" Weevil grunted. "Did you kill it?"

"I rendered it in indisposed. It won't bother you." The lich tapped its chin in mock though. "Though, if you aren't careful, the monsters may eat you."

"You know, all you've seem to do is just come up with imaginative ways to hurt me or get me kill. If you had the parts, I'd think you got off on it." Weevil glowered at his companion with disdain.

"Well, you are the one with a tendency to bite off more than you can chew." The lich sounded amused at Weevil's expression. "It's either go down the dark, spooky tunnel and maybe die. Or stay up here and deal with that boogeyman and his nightmare horse, who will kill you."

Weevil scowled and fingered the Star, glaring down at the hole before a few tentative steps forwards. "So it's more of how you get me killed, than if I will die or not, isn't?"

"You've beaten longer odds before." The lich said amusedly as Weevil gave him a sidelong glare. "Well, I'm assuming you've had sex before."

"Oh, shut the hell up." Weevil snapped and descended into the tunnel. The miasma gave him pause, but a simple wave of his hand through provoked no reaction and he pushed through with only a single backwards glance.

And promptly vanished as his foot slipped on slippery wet stone, curses rising up out of the darkness.

The lich cocked his head. "Mind the drop."

TTTTTTT

Lyrius casually caught the knife being thrust at him between two fingers, wrenched it from its owner's grasp and then knocked said owner out with a hard slam to the face from the pommel. As the man crashed to the ground, he flipped his grip on the knife and hurled it across the room, leaving it quivering in the wall "Will I get to see House Peters now?"

The thug glanced around the ramshackle warehouse that had been serving as their base and was now very close to serving as their graveyard. Over a dozen of his fellows were scattered around in various states of pain, injury and unconsciousness.

It had been about two minutes since the man in black had walked through the front door. And the knife had narrowly missed pinning the thug's hand to the wall as he reached for a weapon. "Uh-huh…"

Cautiously, he moved his hand away from the weapon and towards a switch on the wall. Flipping it, an intercom crackled to life. "B-Boss?"

" _What is it!? I'm busy!"_

"We...we got a customer."

" _Well, take care of them"_

"He...he wants to talk to y-you."

" _Why?"_

" 'cause...cause there ain't no else awake to talk to him but m-me...and I don't talk so good." The thug gulped as Lyrius started towards him menacingly.

"..." The door buzzed and with a 'click' unlocked.

"Thank you. I will let myself in." Lyrius opened the door and watched out of the corner of his eye as the thug began reaching for knife. "I would not if I were you. You will not have fingers to hold it if you do."

The thug let out a strangled 'eep' noise and bolted.

Lyrius pulled the door shut behind him. "House Peters."

Jinx's guess to the man's build had been correct. Peters was half a foot taller than Lyrius' own 6'1" and much broader. His hair was impeccable, he was surrounded by cleaning, functioning electronics including a refrigerator and there was even wine chilling in an ice bucket on the desk. Lyrius mused it wouldn't have been inaccurate to say the man resembled a comic book villain - right down to the idea that wearing a tuxedo made him more menacing. Lyrius felt he would have taken the man more seriously, but he filled the suit not like a marble statue, but hot air in a balloon. Lyrius decided that it was appropriate to liken House Peters to a buttered roll. Filling, but not truly gourmet.

Or maybe it appropriate to do so because the man was chowing down on said rolls. "You got a lot of nerve coming in here."

"I need information from you."

"Whatcha got to pay with?" Peters swallowed his rolls thickly and smiled. "Hold your horses, I remember you. Paid me a lot to dump you here with the rest of the trash. Seem to recall you spent your last dime to get me to do it."

"Yes."

"So you ain't got nothing."

Lyrius seized the desk in one hand and slammed it into Peters, the larger mean woofing out a lungful of hair and chewed bread. Seizing the gaudy necktie, he used it to slam Peter's head into the wood surface and then twisted it before yanking sharply to cut off airflow. "I have your life in my hand."

"You...you...wouldn't…" Peters gagged.

Lyrius merely pulled tighter. "You smuggle narcotics, duel disks, cards and more into this place so you can play king of the rats and line your pockets. But once the Daedalus Bridge is completed, your stranglehold is gone. So what did you bring over recently to help you keep it?"

"Dunno..dunno...what you're talking-" Peters gurgled as Lyrius just pulled tighter.

"You get one more."

"Okay...okay!" Peters nodded desperately and gulped down air as Lyrius released him. "I brought a man in robes over a few days after that Dark Signer business. Paid me good, like you and I didn't ask anymore questions."

"Did he bring anything with him?"

"Just a bunch of useless Duel Monsters cards! Even the Satellite scum wouldn't touch them!"

"How does this benefit you?"

"It don't. I'm not an idiot, mister." Now that he could sit up straight again and breath, Peters' attitude of control and superiority was slowly returning. "Just trying to nail one last big score and get out while the gettin's good."

Lyrius narrowed his eyes.

"Hey, hey, mister sunglasses, chill. I'm not gonna cause anymore trouble. The guy I brought over said something about the B.A.D. area and shit, but that's all. I wasn't gonna follow him. Can't sell things to dead folks." Peters straightened his tie. "So whatcha gonna give me for the information?"

"Every breath you take in the future is on loan from me."

"Well, that's mighty kind of a ya. Really and truly, but like I said, I need one big score. Or two. Or three before I pull up stakes and I head out." Peters smiled cockily. "That doc friend of yours sure would be a big help to some people I know in the Dueling Underground. They're always needin' patchin' up."

"You have not the courage or resources to be a slaver. You do, however, have more than enough foolishness." The ends of Lyrius' hair stirred slightly as a chill descended. "To have spoken those words in front of me."

"See, I knew you'd say something like that and lemme tell ya, I honestly think ya got the chops to back it up, mister sunglasses. But I didn't get to my position by being weak or stupid. See, you got something of a bounty on ya. And I'd love to collect. But thing is, you just trashed all my guys. And I ain't sure I could take you in a fight."

"Then why speak like you are?"

'Cause if I got your doc friend, you won't go raging out of control once I do catch you." Peters seized the desk in both hand and uppercutted Lyrius with it. Twisting it in his grip, he lumbered after the staggering man and used it like a battering ram to send him flying backwards. A few heavy steps later and twisted his grip on the piece of furniture and he was slamming it down on Lyrius like a hammer. "Now stay down and we'll get her to patch you up."

"No." Lyrius kicked the desk aside and jack-knifed to his feet. There was dust on his clothing and blood trickling down one side of his face. Without waiting, he landed a roundhouse kick on Peters' face and then a follow-up barrage of punches sent the larger man fumbling backwards.

"Wooowheee!" Peters teetered, flailing his arms, but managed to keep his balance. "You are good, mister sunglasses. But I ain't no tub of lard, I got stout strength and your blows just gonna bounce right off."

Lyrius' foot slammed into his face, only for a meaty hand to seize his leg as Peters began to slam him around like a kid throwing a tantrum. "You don't listen well, do ya? Or you just thinking 'cause you're so goddamn tough, it'll all work out?"

He hurled Lyrius into a wall, the floor shaking as he charged and body slammed the smaller man into the cementer so hard it cracked. "I smashed the last guys who thought the same!"

Peters backed off, watching Lyrius stagger on his feet and timed a perfect backhand just as Lyrius was getting his orientation back. The weighty slap sent Lyrius tumbling head over heels over a couch. "So, mister sunglasses, you starting to think that comin' in here and messing with my boys and me was a good plan?"

"I have yet to find any flaws in it." Lyrius got to his feet, spitting out a glob of blood and wiping off his split lip. Even as Peters geared up for another charge, he didn't seem concerned.

"Lemme demonstrate 'em for ya!"

Lyrius just ghosted around the charging bull of a man and tripped him up. Peters yelped as he crashed to the floor and then switched to hollering in pain as Lyrius grabbed one arm, planted a foot on the back of his shoulder blade and twisted backwards. "As I said, no flaws yet determined."

"Ah, cripes. Knew I shoulda listened to the boys and lost some weight, taken some classes…" Peters ground out and attempted to free himself. But his own bulk worked against him and it was more like a dying whale than a man struggling. "I don't know anything else, just lemme go!"

"The murders that have been occurring. I know there are more than what's being reported." Lyrius seized Peter's thumb and twisted, the man howling. "Who came to you buy protection from the culprit?

"The...the North distriction, just past the old library…" Peters ground out around his pain. "A couple came asking for weapons the other day. Half up front, half later. 'Cept one of my guys checked them out and well...we got the rest, but they won't be needing protection."

"You disgust me." Lyrius scowled and there was a 'crack' as he dislocated Peter's thumb. Dropping the limb, he stepped over the sobbing smuggler and started for the exit. "Leave Satellite today."

"You think...you think that I'm just going to roll over to you, bastard?" Peters barked, rage briefly overpowering pain. "I've been here since the start and I'll be here long after the end!"

Lyrius paused and twisted his head, glaring at the man. "The only end you are going to see is your own if I return here tomorrow and find you here."

Peters gulped as a sudden chill filled the warehouse, an icy claw of fear gripping his heart. "You...you wouldn't."

"You steal from the dead, poison the living and live off the suffering of both. So does a roach. I have no qualms in crushing you both."

The Lyrius was gone, the chill of his threat lingering to the point Peters almost swore he could see his breath.

TTTTTT

"Sending me on a freaking fetch quest.. What does he think this is, a goddamn RPG? We should just magic that bastard and his horse into dust and throw them in Wheeler's face. I-" Weevil's grumpy mutterings had been going on since he managed to pick himself up from his fall. Combined with the glowing light from his Millennium Star, it was the only thing that made his little sojourn bearable.

The passage was slick with moisture that had seeped in from the ocean above and more than once, he'd jerked in surprise at the sounds of something apparently banging into the rubble. It would be just his luck if it caved in and a shark swam in to eat his face off. Even his breathing echoed back at him, mocking him for being afraid of a little darkness.

Weevil let out a grunt of relief as the passageway opened up into a broader room. It was collapsed as well, but it was at least dry. Something crunched under his feet and he frowned as he realized it was glass. Holding up the Star shed some light, revealing glass cases cracked or shattered from debris that had fallen on them scattered around the room in what had once been an orderly fashion. " About damn time…"

Careful to avoid slicing apart his already worn and beaten footwear on the glass, he picked his way through the destroyed exhibit and squeezed under a collapsed pillar that was decorated in hieroglyphs. The room was more intact than its neighbor and Weevil gulped a bit as his foot scraped across sand instead of glass. "That bag of bones had better be right about the damn mummy."

The Star's glow only stretched so far and Weevil snatched few tattered scrolls from an open display case and cackled a little as they ignited from his item's magic. They clattered as he tossed them into an open urn and ignited whatever was inside, the flames casting a strong glow over the room. "Heh. Better than Indiana Jones!"

The room was littered displays containing pots and jars of all shapes and sizes while furniture was lined neatly against the walls and worn and weathered scrolls hung from the walls. Weevil crept around impatiently, his frustration mounting as he blew dust off a few of the cases and found more scrolls or bits of stone. He paused curiously when one such effort revealed a funerary mask, decked out in gold and lapis lazuli. The face was oddly inhumane, resembling more of a beetle's face complete with mandibles over the lips. A quick check of the information card at the base of the case revealed that the mask was apparently from a heretical sect that used the mask to hide themselves after death from the gods' judgement. Or to keep their enemies from entering the afterlife.

The last line noted that the discoverers of the object had all died in mysterious circumstances, except for the heavy presence of insects in near their bodies. That prompted Weevil to stop reaching through the ruined glass for the mask. "Freaking thing's probably cursed! I don't need my soul stolen again…"

Pushing past it, he swept his gaze over to the far wall. A sarcophagus was reclining in a niche, though the lid was on the floor and nearly dashed to pieces, scattering bits of gold, jewels and ivory everywhere. There were scorch marks on the floor and wrecked displays were burned black and half-melted. And sand was just everywhere. The lich had been telling the truth about the mummy.

Weevil kicked at a pile of sand and bandages before glaring around at nothing. "If you think dealing with that undead nut was bad, I can do so much worse without breaking a sweat." To prove his point, the Star flared and shattered a pot with a bolt of energy. "See? The same thing will happen to you!"

Only the soft crackling of the flames answered him.

No, there was something else.

The shuffling of many legs scraping against stone, a chittering noise…

Weevil whirled around, glancing for the source and finding the room empty except for the relics of the past. "I'm warning you!"

This time, there was no noises.

"That's right!" Turning back to the display, Weevil moved near the niche. Flanking it on either side were several large stone tablets. The lich had said they were Duel Monsters, but the carvings looked like none Weevil had ever seen. "Feh…so one of these things is supposed to let me beat that boogeyman?"

None of the monsters looked particularly strong, despite nearly all of them being insects of one kind or another. A stag beetle, a butterfly, a spider and more. Curiously, Weevil held the Star up to the tablets. He snickered as the tablets' image glowed briefly and phantasmal forelegs stretched for the glowing Item, retreating as he held it away. "You want this? Well, you can't have it, it's mine. And one of you will be lucky to be one, too!"

He paused in front of one of the tablets, noticing that it had actually been cracked heavily in some places and bits of the same miasma that had coated the tunnel were dripping from it like blood. The image on it was warped, the same misasa having been painted over the monster's outline like a tracing. Making it rather look like one of the Earthbound Immortals.

Weevil cackled to himself. The Earthbound Immortals and the Dark Synchros had been pretty terrifying and awesome in their power. Now that they were all gone, no reason for him not to have a portion of that power to himself.

He held up the Star in both hands to the tablet and its glow began to shine brighter, the spirit within began to pull itself free. It was rippling like a mirage, twisted and glossy distortion struggling to maintain itself. A thick, corded body, six scuttling legs and tendrils spilling from it while thick, ugly wings beat to carry it aloof. The pulsing lines throbbed as if the beast had a heartbeat.

As the beast emerged fully, Weevil belatedly realized that he hadn't thought about how he was going to get it out of the tunnel as it outsized him in all directions. Then it collapsed into thick fog and fell over him in a great wave.

Weevil cursed and then gasped as he swallowed a lungful of the fog. His world was enveloped in darkness, even the light of the Star gone and frighteningly, the fog had _weight._ Heavy enough to drive him to all fours and leave him coughing, spluttering, gagging for breath even as it smothered him. He was going to be crushed, strangled into a pulpy mess by the mass around him…

That was when the voices started. Low, clamoring whispers that were almost like the drone of insect wings. There was no coherency, no focus on what they were saying, but he could feel it what they meant. Tired of being squashed, of being neglected. Craving power….craving _control_. A hunger to extend its tendrils into many other beings and make them a part of itself. Of never being afraid again.

Weevil understood those words. He had always understood those words, that need to be respected and held in awe. To _make_ others see his power and strength. The spirit coiled around him and he breathed in again, this time purposefully. There was no taste, but a feeling of satisfied fullness, fresh, eager strength flowing into him. And each breath he took after that only made it that much more truthful.

Yes, this spirit would let him crush that Lyrius Stormcloud anyone else who got in his way. As the last of it vanished into his body, Weevil felt the spirit weave itself into his soul and the Millennium Star's light grew sharper and brighter. He flexed his fingers, as if he could physically see the new strength he had now.

It was a chuckle at first, then a chortle and then Weevil began to laugh even as his shadow grew and warped into the image of the spirit. Wings spread in triumph, red compound eyes glittering with dark promise.

TTTTTTT

Finding the site of the recent deaths was more difficult than Lyrius had initially hoped. First, it had been the demonic raven that had scared people off. Once Rayearth had been shooed away, the residents just clammed up when he questioned them on the deaths. Most were content act as if they had not occurred and others still simply walked away from the strange man and his questions on magic.

Lyrius was not surprised by the reluctance. The Dark Signers had rocked the desolate island in ways even they hadn't know. The people, who had so little to their names and lives, had even less to take their minds off of the horror of having your soul taken. And without that, the event was magnified, looming over their minds like a great storm and leaving them all unsure if lightning was going to strike twice or not.

He'd seen it all before. Back when his wife's lust for power had led her to confuse respect with fear. The ranks of the 'nobility' were no better, abusing their status and resources like petty children, their insatiable vices fed on a diet of stealing from those beneath and blaming them for not having more to steal. And the people beneath them, drained of everything but their fear. It bowed their heads, hanging around them like a noose just waiting for some brute to pull it tight on a whim.

A thousand years separated the here and now with back then, but it was the same feelings and the same looks on the people's faces. Despair, fear, worry, pain, exhaustion. Those dark feelings could kill one just as much as the murderer could.

But while he wasn't fit to do anything about their feelings, Lyrius aimed to do something about the killer. One of the residents had been more open than the rest and pointed him in the direction the missing had been last seen. From there, the chill and skin-crawling feel of undead magic had pulled him towards the bodies.

It was like most of the residences on Satellite - it may have been something else in a former life, but now it was a home because it had four walls and a roof. Even the luxury of an actual door. It as well-maintained as given the island's limited resources could provide and even the small garden growing in the front suggested its owners had put a lot of time and effort into maintaining their home.

And now it would return the favor as it became their grave.

They were slumped back against a makeshift couch, the scene a gothic romance in the making. Their hands clasped tightly, a few smears of blood on their lips suggesting they had exchanged kisses and Duel Monsters cards scattered around them in lieu of rose petals.

Lyrius knelt, careful not to disturb them as he studied the bodies. Beyond the blood on their mouths, there was no signs of physical violence or damage nor even the odors of death despite hours having passed since their demise. The feeling of magic in the air, the cards and a scrap notebook with scribbled life points all suggested a duel. One they had lost.

Which meant their souls had been taken. Removal of a soul so forcefully stripped a person's body of lifeforce utterly. Not even enough left to rot the vessel that had housed it. Their bodies would eventually turn to bone and then to dust, but it would be a process measured in decades, not years.

His gaze fell over the couple's clasped hands and the lengths of chain spilling over their fingers. Carefully, gentle he pried them apart enough to pull the the items free.

A pair of cartouches, engraved on both sides.

Lyrius cupped the small metal tags, examining with frustrated carefulness. "Why do you have these? And where are your souls going?"

"To a place you cannot reach them." Despite coming from right behind him, the voice echoed like it was reaching from a great distance to be heard.

Lyrius shot to his feet, whirling and drawing his sword in the same instant. Standing in the doorway was a short figured wreathed entirely in degrading cloth wrappings from head-to-foot. Chipped sapphire and cracked gold barely managed to seem to be holding together a insect-like mask. Sand dribbled from cracks and tears all over the body as the figure shifted. "What do you know about the souls being stolen?"

"Why do you desire to know about them?" The mummy countered. "Why do you disturb their _ba_?"

"They were murdered. I am attempting to apprehend the culprit and ensure no more suffer such a fate." Lyrius' tone was brisk. There was no feeling of danger emanating from the new arrival, but that hardly meant there wasn't one. "And to put their souls to rest, if I can."

"You speak the words of a just man. But the fires of justice can feed on selfishness as well as altruism." The mummy regarded him for a moment and then held out a hand. "Let Ma'at determine the veracity of your heart."

Lyrius braced himself, but no physical attack came. Instead, he felt his heart lurch and twist and then an overwhelming feeling of something peering into his mind's was vast and endless, powerful through sheer presence alone. It seemed to be judging him, weighing him against itself.

His lips curled in a feral growl and his hair stirred as inky darkness shifted it from hair to shadows. His mind's eye glared at the invading presence and a surge of his willpower sent caused the watcher to balk and vanish. "Do _not_ do that again."

"I will not need to do so." The mummy's voice was suddenly strained, pained and Lyrius got the feeling that whatever he had just chased away was hurt. "You have spoken truly. You are being of darkness and half-life, but there is no malice there. You are capable of helping me save the souls."

"Then where are they?" Lyrius demanded. "Why is the attacker targeting people with the cartouches?"

"No, it is the people who are being targeted that have the cartouches...they meant to protect their souls from corruption and from any who would steal them away from their afterlife." The mummy murmured. "Such as those bound deities…"

"The Earthbound Immortals...they took nearly all the souls upon this island when they were summoned. Your cartouches can prevent that?"

"Yes...those... _immortals_ …" The mummy seemed to detest the word. "Took body and soul and their rise woke me from my prison. When I found the souls of those living in here in peril, I gave them the cartouches. If something tried to take their souls, then they could not...and if their _ba_ were to be destroyed, their souls would also escape."

"But they're still being murdered." Lyrius said curtly. "Do you know by whom? And for what purpose do they want souls?"

"I know the one who is targeting them. Someone who has defiled both their death and their life...undead…." The mummy's voice was wrought with righteous anger. "They seek to deny those who dwell here judgement before Thoth."

There was a pause as a ripping sound filled the air and the mummy watched dispassionately as the wrappings on their right arm tore and the limb began to dangle limply. "I will require your assistance to stop this monster and preserve the lives of those fallen to him already."

Lyrius frowned for a moment, then sheathed his weapon. "Fair. Come with me. I know somehow who can repair your...decay. And then we will talk."

TTTTTTT

"Bastard…" Peters stumbled through the junkyard, nursing his bandaged hand alternatively with tenderness and curses. "Knew he was trouble...should've taken his money and thrown him overboard…."

He pushed through the piles of scrap, pausing to lean his heaving bulk against a broken washer. "He's gonna get his someday...promise you that!"

Wiping sweat from his brow, he soldiered onwards as he the noises of what sounded like an argument began to filter through the stacks of metal. The smell of leaking oils, burnt rubber and more permeated the air. Coupled with the heat, the whole area was like a sauna from hell and every second he spent here made him that much more sticky and frustrated.

Enough so to not even consider an apology as he rounded a corner and plowed into a blonde who had been kneeling. His blow sent her stumbling forwards and barking a curse under her breath. Peters just glowered. "Don't get mad, lady. You're the one blocking the road."

"It's road enough that you don't have to hug the curb." The woman snarked back as she got to her feet and glared up at him. "Even with your size, buddy, its big enough for us both to be here."

"Listen, don't you be pushing my buttons today." Peters growled under his breath. "I've had a crap day so far and while I'm not the kind of guy to vent it on other people, I'd love for you to give me an exception!"

"Oh, don't let me slow your turtle's pace to a snail's." The woman mockingly side-stepped to clear the way. "Just step carefully, now. Don't want you falling on me."

"Lady, if you knew who I was, you'd take a more polite tone with me!" Peters huffed, putting his bulk to its best advantage as he loomed over her. "I can make you or break you in Satellite."

"If you know who I was and what I did, you wouldn't want to get near me." The woman said warningly and Peters suddenly noticed she was wearing a sword that her hand was resting on almost casually. "But if you insist, I could shave a few pounds off you."

"Ha. Ha." Peters glared, but knew better than to push his luck. Between the lose of his gang and the man from earlier, he was in no shape to back up his threats and his fat certainly wasn't going to stop a blade. "Just stay outta my way."

"Just be sure to stomp louder so I can hear you coming." The woman smirked as Peters shouldered past her.

" _You know...I thought for sure I'd have to set a trap but sometimes you get lucky._ " A nasally laughed suddenly echoed around the area and both of them froze. _"Let's see, let's see….a tub of lard smuggler and a toothpick magical cop. Sounds like a sitcom in the making!"_

"Cop?" Peters glanced at the woman in confusion, then narrowed his glare at the surroundings when the laughter continued. "I know that hyena voice anywhere! Come out like the bug you are, Weevil, so as I can squash you in exchange for the shit you owe me!"

"Since you asked so nicely…" Weevil emerged from the darkness of an alleyway. His hair was more feathery and his clothing had gone from green to black but there was no mistaking the ambition and ruthlessness in those eyes. Even the Millennium Star hanging from his neck seemed to be glaring at them. "I'm right here."

"But you're going away." The woman drew her sword and pointed it at him. "I'm taking you in, Weevil. And you're going to spill your guts about everything you know. Including where you got your gift shop curio."

"Oh, we'll be leaving together. Just it'll be you coming with me and not the other way around." Weevil sniggered wickedly. "You're a Shadowchaser. Jinx, right? That name is pretty accurate if you ask me."

"And what do you mean by that?" Jinx and Peters started as suddenly piles of junk began to rustle and shift as something began scuttling through them. "What the…"

"What I mean is that you've got nothing but bad luck meeting me here!" Weevil laughed as his Star glowed brightly. Jinx lunged for him, but _something_ pink and with too many legs burst out of the piles of junk and latched onto her back. She shrieked as tendrils pushed into her skin and Peters bellowed in pain as the same happened to him. Jinx's sword clattered to the ground and Peters toppled over backwards.

Weevil watched as the pair lurched back to their feet, their expressions flat and empty. "It worked, it worked! Now then...I know you came here to get a stash of goodies you squirreled away, Peters...so where is it?"

In response, the big man began to lumber in an apparent random direction and Jinx trailed after him, Weevil bringing up the rear. He couldn't help but grin at the sight of the pulsing insectile tattoos now visible through their clothing that glowed with unholy light. Right out of the gate, his power had given him control of two people who could have once made his life hell. Now, they couldn't touch him!

He fingered his Star impatiently as Peters lead them to another random spot and began pulling off pieces of junk. "Too slow, lardo. Blondie, hurry it up for me!"

Jinx shoved Peters out of the way and then a few swift slashes from her sword left the pile of junk crumbling away and Weevil let out surprised gasp as what he saw underneath.

Two Sector Security D-Wheels in near pristine condition and a lockbox between them. "Would you look at that? Peters, I bet those things would hold even your weight!"

Weevil walked up to them and ran his hands along the vehicle's lines appreciatively. Sleek, angular and far more competent than his old clunker. "This is a good start...but there's got to be more. Blondie, the box!"

Jinx nodded and there was another slash of her sword. The lock went flying away and Weevil nearly shoved her over in his haste to get into its contents. He tore off the lid and gaped again at the piles of cards underneath. Including a wide array of Synchro monsters. "Now this is much better! With these, I'll be able to crush that nightmare man without breaking a sweat...and you two will be more than enough to stop the blonde's friends from interfering." Weevil held out an arm and another scuttling parasite launched from the rubble. It chattered and coiled itself around his limb, eyeless and with a mouth like lamprey. "As for you, my little parasites….we'll make that Wheeler bitch and that traitorous bastard Rex kneel before me!"

He pulled out his deck and ripped a handful of cards free from the box. "Now...let's get to work!"

TTTTT

 _Trivia: Original notes for this chapter was supposed to have the mummy and the lich teaming up. But the undead have it bad enough as it is. They can't all be bad guys. Also supposed to happen was Lyrius and Rayearth fight, someone attempts to burn down Rex's bar and Serenity reveals at rocket-fist in her arm. Sadly, there was no practical use for the rocket-fist. Such is the tragedy of life._

 _See you all later._


	4. Escalation

Kintsugi  
By 7th Librarian

Chapter 4: Escalation

"Okay, I know offered to sleep with you if you wanted to, but that wasn't quite an invitation to walk around my home in a towel." Serenity drawled from where she was sprawled on her couch, chin resting on the arm as she watched Lyrius stride across the living room with but a towel to protect his modesty. "Not that I'm complaining about it. But Ember is still lurking around and you wouldn't want to scar her young impressionable mind."

"Since I sleep here, does it not make this room my room and you are the one intruding?"

"You have to share it with everyone else." Serenity chuckled at the frustrated look on his face and threw him a pile of clothes. "Here. Put something on and you can come back all nice and gothic and brooding instead of dripping wet and delicious."

Lyrius' concession to manners was to simply vanish around the corner. "How is Nephyire?"

"Well, I can tell you this is the first time I've operated on a dead person to make sure they stay healthy in death." Serenity stretched on the couch with a groan, feeling a few kinks in her back from sitting down next to her patient finally unknot. "Otherwise, she's doing okay. All it really took was some suturing and most of my remaining fresh bandages. I'm not too sure about the mask, though. Definately damaged, but she wouldn't take it off to let me repair it or examine her head."

"I doubt the mask can be removed. I have seen its like before." Lyrius' voice floated out from around the corner. "The undead are usually mindless, soulless automatons. Masks can be used to ensure they keep their wits about them and even keep them from rotting."

"Mmm..." Serenity nodded along. "She said the mask was both her protection and her punishment."

"The mask will probably help restore her body and keep her from being seriously injured. As well as mask her from scrying and the like. But it also hides her from the gods. Which means she cannot pass into the afterlife and be judged. For an Egyptian from her time, that is indeed a fate worse than death." Lyrius swept back into the living room and gave Serenity a blink of curosity as she cocked her head at him. "What is it?"

"I gave you a shirt in that pile."

"I am intending to give Resonae a bath. There is no sense is having to change clothes twice."

"Ooh, yeah. She doesn't look like she'd take well to water." Serenity grinned and kicked her legs a couple of times. "Ember's still stuck doing my housework. We could have her do it."

"Would you want to explain to Jinx why my Nightmare is spitting out human bones?"

"Spoilsport." Serenity watched as he gathered a brush and a bucket. "Want my help, then? I have a little bit of chocolate left I can bribe her with."

"Thank you, but no." Lyrius began to fill the bucket in the sink. "Resonae will behave for me. If not, I can prove once again why I am her master."

"Please don't. I don't have enough supplies to put you both back together again and Resonae isn't much of a conversationalist."

"Thank you for valuing my mount over me. I do so, as it is said 'feel the love'."

"What can I say? Hell horse is freaking cute." Serenity watched Lyrius make for the back door, watching happily. "Though you're pretty good eye candy yourself. Look at those muscles. Rawr!"

"Thank you for the compliment." Lyrius paused as a thought occured to him. "Could you go to _The Tar Pit_ and see if Rex will give or sell us some of his stock?"

"He probably will." Serenity's expression brightened. "Ooh, are we gonna give it to Ember?"

"No."

"Resonae! I bet she's a fun drunk! In a...err...stabby sort of way."

"I want to experiment with it. It may make a potent explosive. Or poison."

"Okay, alcohol will you kill you, but you shouldn't use it like that deliberately." Serenity said with eyeroll. But she slid herself off the couch and stood. "But a little sunshine would be nice. How many bottles you want?"

"All of them would preferable."

"We can't put him out of business. On the other hand, I did swear an oath to work to prevent others from harming themselves and that stuff is kind of dangerous..." Serenity mulled her options over in her head, then shrugged. "Right. I'll be back in a couple of hours. Don't let our guests kill each other."

Lyrius was quiet.

"Lyrius!"

"...very well."

TTTTTTT

The Domino Library had been spared most of the intial blast of Zero Reverse and even the ravages of time. But not the desperation of the inhabitants. Books that had once been plundered for knowledge had been plundered for fuel and heat in the early years after the catastrophe, and its shelves had been picked clean. Then the shelves themselves had been torn apart for more. All that was left was useless, fried electronics, a few busts and so on.

But the building was still filled with silence as it had ever been and the lich found that fact comforting.

Despite it being the middle of the day, the the upper floors of the library were nearly pitch black thanks to the lack of windows. The only light that existed was flickering of an old projector grumpily whirring its reels to project a black-and-white film against a bare alcove of untouched white wall.

The lich watched as, on-screen, a young officer dove into a trench even as several of his comrades were shot in the head. Smoke poured over the trench as the shot panned into the soldier's point-of-view of the corpse strewn battlefield, some men staggering around in pain in the throes of what looked like a gas attack. Noiseless flashes of light punctuated the fog, heralding machine gun that mowed down the hapless men.

"It's _All Quet On The Western Front_."

The lich cocked its head enough to catch sight of the six-eyed raven perched on the projector. "Is it? I can't read Japanese and the audio reel was damaged."

"It's a Word War I movie concerning a young soldier experiencing the horrors of that war and how combat had gone from a noble endeavor to wholesale slaughter."

"Ah."

The pair watched the film for a few moments longer, then the raven spoke again. "Why are you here?"

"I was bored. And truth be told, desperate for something new to read. Wizards boast about how powerful and enlightening books of magic are, but they lose their luster like anything else after a point." The lich gave a rattling sigh. "There are only so many ways to say 'This spell kills your enemies'. Perhaps we magic users are driven to create new ways of doing so in hopes of building a better mouse trap."

"Your life philosphy is of very little interest to me." The raven said bluntly. "Why did you come to this island?"

"Same as you. The Earthbound Immortals. There aren't exactly many gods walking the Earth these days."

"You'd be an equally lousy tourist as you are a liar."

"Worth a shot." The lich shrugged and held out a hand, a fireall ignighting in the plam. "I'm afraid I'm not your usual run-of-the-mill villain, Shadowchaser. I hardly need my ego feed by explaining myself to you. My goals are mine alone."

The raven took flight as the fireball destroyed the projector, swooping down over the railing and out of sight. The lich followed, leaping with surprising grace over the wooden railing and landing with Olypmic-level grace on the floor below. The raven had already joined its comrades pouring in the front door and the swirling mass of birds colalesced into Rayearth.

"Ahh, an Incantifer. Very lucky for me." The lich rasped and clapped its bony hands together, fireballs appearing in its palms as they parted. "Your kind's blood and organs make for wonderful ingredients in many things."

"You seem confident you can kill me." Rayearth produced her wand from her sleeve, the weapon lengthening into a staff.

"Oh, killing you Shadowchasers is more trouble than its worth. That Imprint I would be marked with is just terrible. Hardly flattering at all." The lich flicked both fireballs, unsurprised that Rayearth's staff simply smashed them into embers. "But you'd be surprised what organs and limbs you can live without."

"Pieces of myself won't be joining your collection today. But I have a teammate of the vulpine variety and she has been looking for some new bones to chew on."

"Alas, I've grown rather fond of my bones. Dead useful for existing as a lich, you see." The lich's comment was silenced as the staff slammed into its head, sending it tumbling end over end into a pile of bookshelves.

Rayearth didn't let up, a burst of power from her wand shattering a crumpled support pillar and leaving the upper floor to cave down atop the undead being and bury it further. The rubble pile shifted as the lich began to push itself free and then another burst of power slammed into its chest. It hurled the being into the wall and it blew apart into individual bones.

The skull didn't seem to notice. "Also useful because I can't feel pain."

"That remains to be seen." Rayerth grunted and stalked forwards, not slowing as all of the individual bones began to rise in the air menacingly and zip around her. "Clever."

The skull floated up casually even as bones began to hammer at the Incantifer at all sides, her staff a blur to knock and parry them aside. "You'd be surprised at how few liches are still limited to thinking like they need their body in one piece to be alive. With two-hundred and sixty-three bones in the human body, you'd think-"

Rayearth snatched a bone that had been about to crash into her temple from the air and flexed. There was a cracking noise. When she opened her hand, dust and tiny fragments of bone drifted to the ground. "Two-hunded and sixty-two."

"...you realize, this means war." The skull's sockets began to glow blue and the whirling, frenzied pace of the dancing bones picked up madly.

Rayearth just smiled.

TTTTTTT

"Hey."

Lyrius ignored Ember's call and instead splashed Resonae's side with another wave of water. The Nightmare huffed indignantly at the treatment, but remained obidiently still as he began to brush the dirt and trash from her coat.

"Hey, old guy." Ember huffed in annoyance from her position seated on the stoop. "I know you can hear me."

Lyrius continued scrubbing along Resonae's flank, pausing to use a comb to scrape lose some particularly stubborn dirt from the damp fur.

"...I could arrest you, you know."

Both mount and master snorted disbeleivingly in unison.

"You just got the drop me last time!" Ember insisted.

Lyrius knelt, Resonae lifting a hoof so he could carefully start scraping clean the underside.

The teenager let out an expasperated breath. "How does Serenity deal with this!? It's like talking to a brick wall!"

"She uses my name." Lyrius said simply. "Nor does she feel the need to put on airs."

"I'm just reminding you that you're a criminal and I'm a Shadowchaser." Ember barked. "No matter what Jinx and Rayearth say, you're bad news."

"You broke into an innocent woman's home and threatened her with a sword."

"You married an evil bitch and tried to conquer the world!"

"I spent four months training with a team of very powerful and very talented Shadowchasers. If they had felt I was a danger or needed to be punished for events that happened centuries ago, I would be sitting inside of a cell." Lyrius pointed out politely.

"Yeah, well, I've never heard of this Backwater place and Rayaerth's not exactly above-board, either." Ember grunted.

Lyrius didn't care to respond and instead continued with cleaning his Nightmare. Her dark coat meant dirt and the like didn't show up that well and despite her insistences that she was just fine, he had to be meticulous in cleaning to ensure he got everything. It was laborious task, made more so by the fact she was passive-aggressively complaining by shuffing her hooves or 'accidentally' swatting him with her tail when she felt he was taking too long in one particular spot.

He had finally cleaned one side of her to his satisfaction and swept around to the other side. Surprisingly, Ember's face appeared where he had just been. "What do you want?"

"I want to know what you want."

"No." Lyrius' felt his lips twitch slightly into a smirk at Ember's thrown expression. "This is not a story or tv show. I will not exposit on myself simply because you ask."

"I don't have to ask most of the bad guys I know...they like to hear themselves talk." Ember grumbled.

"Then perhaps this means I am not a bad guy."

"Absence of evidence isn't the same as proof of innocence." Ember said smugly.

"Presumption of guilt in absence of evidence is tyranny, not justice."

"You'd know, wouldn't you?"

"I would." It was several more minutes before Lyrius acknowledged the frustrated look on Ember's face. "I feel no need to say more on the subject."

"Then talk about something! Anything!" Ember said impatiently. "It's only you, me and the horse and she's just as likely to eat me than talk to me."

"What about Nephyire?

"She's still locked up in Serenity's room praying and we can't get any answers out of her."

"I am sorry to dissapoint, but I do not exist to relieve your boredom." Lyrius informed her. "Perhaps you should use this time to work on your deck. Or practice your combat skills. Or meditate and calm yourself."

"Those sound like things you'd do and if you consider those things fun or entertaining, you really are messed up." Ember huffed and folded her arms. "Seriously, do you do anything that might considered actually enjoyable?"

"Sex is enjoyable and engaging. Would you like to participate in that?"

Ember went as red as her name, her mouth dropping open.

"You asked first."

TTTTTTT

"-so it was at that point I swore off bananna hammocks as an underwear choice and found out that you can't hide inside of holograms." Rex polished off the remnants of his glass and set it down it with a punctuating thud. "Chased me all the way to the city limits and probably would have kept going if it hadn't been for that mime..."

Serenity snorted a giggle into her drink and shook her head bemusedly. "C'mon, Rex! Duel Monsters Mob?"

"Hey, they're a real thing! Or at least they were fifteen years ago." Rex insisted. "Break your legs if you crossed em and if you pissed off the Don, they tied you to a wheel, spun it and threw Duel Monsters cards at you until died of paper cuts!"

"No way, no way. I bet half of that story is made up!" Serenity pointed a finger at him. "Lying is bad for your heath, young man!"

"I'm older than you, red!" Rex said defiantly and rolled his eyes as Serenity just giggled. "Sheesh, what's gotten into you? You're cracking a smile at everything!"

"Don't think I can help it any, either." Serenity shrugged with a grin. "Just feeling like more like my old self these days, I guess."

"We got magic cops hanging around, Weevil's involved with some dark magic crap and your roomie is an ancient king with a literal killer horse. And that makes you like your old self." Rex said incredulously. "I can't believe you're liking all this magical hubub."

"Well, I am a little..." Serenity admitted with a sheepish grin, leaving Rex to lift an eyebrow at her. "Okay, maybe more than a little. I mean, this is the kind of stuff Joey and the others got up to you all those years ago and now its my turn. Not to mention that I'm learning so many new things."

"Don't be in a hurry to forgot the old lessons, training wheels. You aren't a young chickadee anymore." He gestured to the metal hand she had wrapped around her glass. "And you can't exactly afford to replace another limb."

"I am aware of that." Serenity held up that hand, flexing the fingers and there was a faint grinding sound as there was some hesitation on the fingers as they tried to move. "I can barely keep the ones I have working."

"Once the Daedalus Bridge gets finished, you shuold be able to hook yourself up with some better prosthetics. Maybe get yourself a rocket fist in there." Rex laughed at the frown she gave him. "Aw, c'mon, you never thought about that? You could be like Robodoc- fold out scalpel in your leg and your fingers transform into like a pair scissors and a needle and stuff!"

"First thing I'd do is sew that mouth of yours shut, Rex." Serenity huffed and took a swig of her drink. "Wouldn't have to listen to anymore of your lying stories, you lying ass."

"Hey, my stories are a hundred precent true! Especially the parts I wasn't there for!" Rex said in mock defensiveness and both of them shared a laugh. But it faded quickly and his smile fell into a frown. "Gotta admit, though. This stuff with Weevil is almost out of my league."

"What? No way, Rex." Serenity chided him. "Even if you've only done half the stuff you've said you done, ancient magic artifacts and life or death Duel Monsters should be a walk in the park."

"Naw, not like that. Just that I'm starting think Weevil's really gone off the deep end this time...and he's not coming back." Rex muttered into his glass. "I've seen it before, Serenity. Guys like him can hurt a lot of people when they decide to out with a bang."

"The Shadowchasers can stop him- Ember's young, but she's got heart. And Jinx and Rayearth clearly know what they're doing."

"I believe you. But Weevil's got himself convinced life has backed him into a corner and there's nothing more dangerous than a wackjob who has nothing else to lose." Rex growled and slammed a fist on the table. "I should have taken him out myself years ago!"

"Rex, I've seen you fight. You couldn't murder a sandwhich, let alone Weevil." Serenity snorted. "You're not in much better shape than I am."

"Bull. I've been drinking my own swill for years. Toughened me up. Put hair on my chest." Rex thumped his chest in emphasis and then winced, prompting his companion to laugh. "Hey!"

"Sorry, sorry." Serenity controlled herself, her expression sobering. "Rex, I don't know everything that you did to yourself. But all those ache and pains you're having, the tiredness, the irregular heartbeat, the headaches...that's your body telling you everything's catching up to you. I honestly can't tell you many years you have left."

"Mmm. Kinda figured that, yeah." Rex nodded. "But I'm not afraid of it, training wheels. I made peace with death a long time ago. I'll cuss the bastard out when I die and flip him off, but I'm not afraid of keeling over. Just find it kinda invconvient."

Serenity nodded slowly after a moment. "Yeah...I...know what you mean."

"Hey, now. Only room for one drunk idiot at the table and I'm filling it to capacity." Rex chided her. "In fact, there's only room for one in all of Satellite, so why don't you vamoose?"

Serenity must have looked confused, because he continued onwards. "Look, when all this stuff with Weevil is said and done, you think Lyrius is gonna hang around here? I've seen guys like him before - they're trying outrun the past and catch the future at the same time. Thing is, though, he doesn't pay attention to the present. He's tore up inside. He needs someone like you to keep him from falling apart."

"Rex, I'm a doctor, not a psychologist or anything like that. I'm not..." Serenity trailed off at Rex's expectant look. "Why do you want me to go with him?"

"Because you gave this crapsack place the best years of your life, two of your limbs and enough blood, sweat and tears to fill an ocean." Rex said curtly. "But Satellite isn't ever going to reward you for it and I think you need get out of here while you still can. See the world, learn about this magic stuff and maybe find a few old friends. And for the love of heart of the cards, find some happiness!"

Serenity sighed and muttered something uncomplimentry about her friend under her breath. "You don't even know if he'll want to take me along."

"Trust me. He will. You may have to cajole him a bit, but he'll cave like that." Rex snapped his fingers. "And if not, well, I'll show that old man a few things."

A snort escaped her at the thought of her diminutive friend trying to fight Lyrius and Serenity couldn't help but smile. "Alright, Rex. When this is all over, I'll see about going with him."

TTTTTTT

"I would speak with you."

Lyrius pulled himself free of his meditations at the echoey voice breaching the silence. He opened his eyes to see the mummy standing before him. "Nephyire. How are you doing?"

"Well. Your friend is good at what she does." Fresh white gauze covered most of the mummy's form and on the whole, her presence seemed stronger. "These bandages are quite sturdy."

Lyrius flicked his gaze up at her face. "Your mask seems to be repaired as well."

"Yes. My prayers have been heard, at least in part..." Fingers reach up automatically to touch the insect-faced mask. Chips and cracks still decorated it, but pieces were no longer flaking off and the gold had regained some of its luster. "It is a sign that asking you for help was correct."

"Then let us further that path. What did you wish to speak to me of?"

"The souls of those taken by the Immortals, as well as the souls of the tragedy that created this island are tained with darkness. The cartouches were to protect them from further harm so that when they pass from this world, they shall recieve fair judgement and purge their souls of the darkness." Nephiyre explained. "But they are not passing on to the afterlife."

Lyrius frowned in recognition. "The souls remain on this plane of existence."

"Yes. In the musuem, there is a strange artifact that has recently become...awake..." Nephyire paused, hunting for the words. "It shines with a sickly light and is somehow collecting the souls of this island. I have tried to release them, but I am a fallen priest and have not the power to purify them on my own."

"You said as a being of darkness, I could help you. How?"

"There is a way to help them. It is possible to draw the souls forth from the artifact, but I have refrained from doing so as they have no where to go. However..." The mummy's bandages shuffled and she produced a stack of Duel Monsters cards. "If they were to lend me their _ka_ and defeat a soul of darkness, they could be purified."

"Symbolically overcoming the taint within through ritual combat." Lyrius nodded at the conclusion. Then his eyes narrowed. "Who else knows about this well of souls?"

"A being of bone and cold, who insults life by denying death. You would know it as a lich."

Lyrius frowned. "It stole the Millenium Star from you."

"Yes. We battled for the souls and I denied it from ever taking them itself. But it took my Item and I fear it it is only a matter of time it twists another into trying to do the thievry for it."

"It already has. The Shadowchasers are interfering with his plans, but it will not last." Lyrius stood, pulling his sword up with him. "Are you safe to ride, Nephiyre? The sooner we get to the museum, the sooner we can set these souls free and end their torment."

He paused and swiped bit of change from where it was sitting on the end table. With dexerity that only comes from practice, he twisted it in his fingers and flicked it at the door over Nephiyre's shouder. It punched through the cheap wood with ease and there a yelp from the other side. "You may come with us, Ember. "

"I wasn't gonna ask!" Ember insisted as she swept into the room, eyes flicking between the pair. "Someone needs to keep an an eye on you two creepy people."

Nephyire studied her curiously and then turned towards Lyrius. "I would not endanger a child."

"I'm a Shadowchaser and can take care of myself. Plus, what if Weevil or that lich shows up? You're going to need my help."

"You would follow us regardless." Lyrius pointed out and Ember huffed, but didn't deny the statement. "We will stop by _The Tar Pit_ and drop you off. They will need protection if I am not present ."

Ember huffed angrily, opened her mouth, but Lyrius overrode her. "Your first duty is to protect those who cannot from magic, not to chase after us. We are taking this quest with full understanding of the risks. Serenity and Rex are Mundanes. To them, the risks can be quite lethal."

Ember's face twisted into a frown and she folded her arms in a pout. "I'm not admitting you're right!"

TTTTTTT

"Rex, just how much of this do you _have_?" Serenity gazed upon the dozen or so crates that were lined up on the bar. Each one held a variety of mistmatched bottles that were all sealed shut.

"Not enough." Rex grunted as he hefted another crate onto counter. He dusted his hands against one another and gave her a look. "And I run a bar. What do you expect?"

"Uh-huh." Serenity lifted an eyebrow curiously. "And how much is your rockgut and how much is real booze?"

"Well, geeze, you think I can't tell?" Rex growled indignantly and grabbed a bottle to wave in her face. "This one is clearly Jack Daniels."

"It says Schnapps." Serenity pointed out and tapped the bottle with a metal finger. "But the liquid inside is brown, not clear. So it's not that, either."

"Homemade Jack Daniels."

"Your stuff is an evil green."

"Okay, so I don't have much call for all this and wanted to clear it out." Rex threw up his free hand and shoved the bottle back into the crate. "I'm not even sure how much is liquor and how much is pop and stuff that's been expired for a decade or so."

Serenity sighed. "You mean we have to taste test all of these!?"

"Hey, any excuse to get drunk is a good excuse!" Rex said cheerfully and grabbed a different bottle, popping the seal. It never quite made it to his lips, though, as he paused in mid-motion and frowned. "Hey, red. We were drinking water earlier, right?"

"For what passes as water around here, yeah." Serenity nodded. "Why?"

"Cause if I'm not drunk enough to imagine seeing a sand tornado heading towards us, I'm gonna need to be drunk to deal with it."

Serenity turned towards the entrance of the bar, where there was indeed a sand tornado zipping towards them. Before it could impact, it impossibily ground to a complete halt. There was a heavy rusltling of sand and it resolved back into the form of Nephyire

"...oh great. _Another_ mummy." Rex groaned and then let out a relieved sigh as Resonae drew up alongside the bar with Lyrius and Ember astride her. "Oh, good. It's Lyrius. Now all this weird stuff is going to at least have an explanation."

"Even if the explanation is going to be 'I can't tell you'."

"At least he's honest."

"Mmm." Serenity nodded. "Wait... _another_ mummy?"

Rex didn't have time to regal her with the story as Lyrius and Ember had already dismounted and were walking into the bar with the mummy trailing a few steps behind. "Kid's a little young to be in here, Lyrius."

"Ha. A-ha-ha." Ember deadpanned. "Nice of the adults in my life to get a kick out of harassing me. Hilarious."

"There's not much else to do around her, kiddo and with that surly teenage look on your face, you make an easy target." Rex snickered as Ember just glared at him.

"Please don't antagonize each other. You are going to have to spend the next few hours in each other's company." Lyrius said before the arguement could progress further.

"Excuse you?" Serenity blinked.

"Nephyire has revealed that the reason a lich and by extension, Weevil, are casuing havoc is so that they can get to a well of souls lingering thanks to the Immortals. With my help, she can purify this well and send them to the afterlife." Lyrius explained. "Thus, removing the risk of our enemeis becoming more powerful."

"Not the strangest thing I've heard in the last few days." Rex seemed to give it a moment's though, then shrugged. "Alright, king. You're our magic man. If this is what you need to do, you do it."

"This makes Ember our bodyguard, then?" At Lyrius' confirming nod, Serenity shrugged. "Fair. Rex and I were about to taste-test a bunch of suspicious looking liquor, so we need someone around to keep us from being total idiots when we're plastered."

"Great. Now I'm a babysitter." Ember rolled her eyes.

Lyrius took in the number of crates and the mismatching bottles. "That seems...harzardous to your health. As a doctor, should not be attempting to dissaude him from doing so?"

"Naw. It'll only let him live a little longer." A nasally voice snarked from the bar's entrance.

Lyrius was first to move, vanshing into his own shadow and reappearing in front of Weevil. He was already attacking, fist aimed for Weevil's smug smile and then a pair of figures crashed into him. He went flying backwards into the group, all of them crashing down in a tangle of limbs.

Weevil laughed as Lyrius just reappeared in a burst of shadow even as the group began to untangle them. "Okay, _that_ was funny!'

Lyrius just narrowed his eyes at the two figures standing alongside Weevil. House Peters and Jinx.

"What...dammit...Jinx? You got possesed again?" Ember swore as she got to her feet and caught sight of her teammate. "This better not be becoming a habit..."

"Weevil got a makeover..." Serenity got her feet slowly, helping Rex up and eyeing Weevil warily. The dark clothing, feather-like nature of his hair and unnatural gleam in his eyes.

"Shit...ten to one he's got some kind of magic power upgrade." Rex grunted.

"Oh, indeed I did." Weevil's shirt rippled and the Millenium Star appeared. It was glowing and a moment later, an Eye of Horus was on his forehead. "Would you like to see what I'm capable of?"

"You trifle with things not meant for any, thief." Nephyire rasped out as she moved up to join Lyrius. "That item is only a curse, not a blessing."

"Oh, look. A talking corpse." Weevil sneered and the light intensified. "I'm guessing you owned this thing? Mind telling me some of its secrets?"

"Never." Nephiyre paused as she and Weevil stared at one another, then a dry laugh issued forth. "You cannot control my mind, thief. Even the Star cannot affect the dead."

"But it can the living." Weevil gestured, Jinx and Peters stepping forwards and lifting their arms to reveal Duel Disks. "And my new friends are just what I need to get my revenge."

"You will do nothing of the sort." Lyrius informed him. "I do not need to duel you to defeat you."

"But you will to save your friends." Weevil laughed and the glowing intensified, darkness erupting out of the shadows of the bar to swallow up Serenity and Peters, then Rex and Jinx.

"No!" Ember lunged for Jinx, but the darkness threw back into a booth. "Dammit! That's a Shadow Game!"

.

"No! It's a death trap!" A burst of power launched from the Star and into Nephyire. The force threw the mummy back into the crates of alcohol, soaking in booze and glass as they broke. But then she ignited with a sudden roar of flames. The fire devoured her form, the spilled alcohol, then the bar and then the entire bar was ablaze. "Now it doesn't even matter if they win, they'll still all die!"

"You son of a bitch!" Ember charged for him, but was ground to a halt as darkness erupted around them and the searing heat of the flames was replaced by the bone-chilling shadows of a Darkness Game.

Ember slammed a fist into the ground and swore in Japanese under her breath before hauling herself to her feet and readying herself, unsurprised to find a Duel Disk on her arm. "You bastard! You trying to kill yourself along with us!?"

"Please!" Weevil sneered with ego and a touch of madness. "Haven't you all be comparing me to a roach? We're really tough to kill!"

"But not impossible." Lyrius squared off from Weevil as well. "Last time, I made the mistake of allowing you to live. Now I will correct it."

Weevil laughed again, his shadow spreading out behind him into the winged, multi-limbed and six-eyed form. It glared hungrily at the pair of duelists across the way. "You think I'm afraid of you!?"

The shadow reared up, somehow pulling itself into into three-dimensions. It opened a mouth ringed with fangs and tendrils to screech like a broken calliope. The darkness itself seemed to shudder and throb to the angry cry. "I'm going to devour your souls!"

TTTTT

 _Trivia: This chapter went through a lot of rewrites and changes. Intial idea was that Weevil ambush the two groups seperately and dragged Lyrius and Ember into a Turbo Duel that they had no Speed Spells for. But I figured this would work out better since it makes more sense_ _\- Weevil's impulsive and arrogant. Plus, its been awhile since we had a duel, so why not make up for it with three at once?_  
 _  
_ _Beta: (stage whisper) I think he's a bit of a perfectionist!_


	5. Conflict

Kintsugi  
By 7th Librarian

Chapter 5: Conflict

Weevil watched in amusement as shadows pooled around his arm, solidifying into a glossy black and red beetle- Duel Disk. Insect legs held it in place on his limb, while scissoring jaws spread to reveal a deck and wings unfolded into the tray. "Well, if I had known a custom model was going to look this good, I'd have invested in one a long time ago!"

"Looks like you're trying too hard to be an edgelord, bugbrain!" Ember snipped and didn't back down from the glare she got in return. "Don't get too attached to it, either! I'm going to be using it to break your skull open when I beat you!"

"Oh no, a girl with red hair and named Ember has a temper! What a surprise!" Weevil sneered. "We'll see how feisty you are when you're my slave!"

"Just you try it, Weevil!" Ember growled. (ELP: 8000)

"Hehehehe...there is no try, girl. Only do or do not. And I'll most certainly be doing it!" Weevil grinned maliciously and switched gazes to his other opponent. "But you, boogeyman, seem to be doing a lot of nothing! How's that working out for ya?"

Lyrius remained silent, only the narrowing of his glare being the only sign he had heard Weevil. (LLP: 8000)

"I know, I know!" Weevil snapped his fingers mockingly. "You're trying to think of a way to beat me and save everyone!" He spread his arms wide to encompass the seemingly infinite mass of darkness that enclosed the three of them. "After all, we're safe in the Darkness Game, aren't we? Hard to believe outside this sphere of magic is a burning building."

He wagged a finger chidingly. "So when one of us wins...well, all that burning rubble might come crashing down on us. Or maybe you'll be able to hear the screams as all your friends burn to a crisp..."

"The only burning that's going to be happening is you, you jerk!" Ember snapped up her opening hand of five cards, then a sixth. "I summon Solar Flare Dragon!" Magma erupted from her field in a fountain that coiled into a serpentine shape, hissing at Weevil with red-hot eyes. (1500/1000)

A flash of light solidified into a set card behind her monster. "Then I set this and end my turn! Now my monster blasts you for five hundred points of damage!" Solar Flare Dragon hissed and opened its mouth, spewing a stream magma at Weevil. He flinched from the heat and stepped backed, but only smoked instead of burned. (WLP: 7500)

"Heh...I barely felt a thing!" Weevil snickered and glanced towards his other opponent. "You want to take a crack at it?"

"...draw." Lyrius snapped up his card. "I activate Solar Recharge, discarding Raiden, Hand of the Lightsworn from my hand. Then I draw two cards and discard the two top from my deck." Complying with the actions, he tossed a card onto his disk. "I summon Queen's Paladin in attack mode" (1800/1600)

A flurry of playing cards sout of the darkness and they swarmed in front of him before clearing to reveal a blonde female warrior. Her playing card armor was heavy and strong and identifying her as belonging to the Heart suit. "When Queen's Paladin is summoned I can add 'King's Paladin' from any location to my hand."

He caught the card as it slipped out of his disk and then swept a pair into his disk. "I set these and end my tun."

"Draw." Weevil sniggered excitedly as he drew and flipped around a spell card. "I activate Invasive Parasite!" Two cards shout of his deck and flew across the field, landing on his opponent's fields and transforming into large ugly massives of green and red with little tentacles writhing all over them.

"What the hell!?" Ember demanded, gaping as her Solar Flare Dragon suddenly sprouted gossamer wings and compound eyes.

"There Parasite Paracides…" Lyrius watched as Queen's Paladin gain similar insect like features. "And they're infecting our monsters…" (400/300x2)

"Invasive Parasite lets me summon them straight from my deck to your fields. Lucky me to have two opponents!" Weevil cackled and then held up another card. "I can't normal summon this turn, but I don't need to! I activate Parasite Discharge! This summons Fusion Parasite from any location!" The card exploded, the shards reforming into the gangly, mottled parasite monster. (0/0)

"That thing is just as ugly as you, Weevil!" Ember made a face at the bug.

"And just as dangerous. I activate the continuous trap The Phantom Knight's Fog Sword! This trap equips to your monster and negates its effect!" Lyrius' trap flipped up and spat out a gleaming blade of fog that hurtled for the parasite.

"Saw through my plan, huh? Same to you! Mystical Space Typhoon!" Weevil jammed a card into his disk and a howling wind blew the fog blade away easily. "Now when Fusion Parasite is summoned, I can immediately fuse it with any monsters I have or in my hand! So I fuse it with my Insect Queen!"

The named monster appeared behind him, easily the size of a bus. A gigantic red abdomen made up most of her bulk, held aloft by six powerful legs while a human-like face glared down at them. With a screech, she snapped down and snared the parasite in her jaws. With a disgusting crunch, she chomped it in two and then slurped down tendrils.

 _"Kingdomless ruler, transcend your limitations and give birth to a new age! Invade and corrupt all into your beautiful image! Fusion Summon!"_ Weevil's eyes glittered with eager malevolence as his Queen began to spasm and and, cracks appearing along her exoskeleton. " _Parasite Sovereign!"_

His Queen's compound eyes shattered, leaving hollow sockets in their place. The joints of her legs cracked open as tendrils slithered free, lashing about for something to crap. Her abdomen swelled, the carapace splitting like it was an eggshell and as the Queen screamed in pain, her mouth gained fangs while something grew out of her head to twist into a rough crown shape. Finally, there was the faint chittering sound of _something_ moving inside her. _Many_ somethings. (0/0)

"Okay, I'll give you credit for making something ugly and disgusting even more so…" Ember eyed the new monster with even more disdain than she had Fusion Parasite.

Lyrius simply stared at the fusion monster. He could feel bits of dark magic washing over him, like the tendrils the creature possessed were caressing him. Cold and slimy. "That thing...it carries the same feeling as the Earthbound Immortals."

"You better believe it, because you're going to be seeing a lot of my Sovereign." Weevil cackled. "I activate her effect! Come to me!"

Ember and Lyrius watched with surprised expressions as Solar Flare Dragon and Queen's Paladin suddenly turned to face them with angry looks. "By discarding a card, my Sovereign can take control of an Insect-monster you control!"

"A flawed strategy." Lyrius said. "Our Parasite monsters are still protecting our life points. If you destroy them, none of our monsters will become Insects."

"Please! I'm not so short-sighted! Didn't you notice my Invasive Parasite card is still play?" Weevil pointed at the spell card. "If all you control are my parasites, then I can attack you directly with my other ones!"

He snapped up an arm and pointed Lyrius. "Put him in his place! Double direct attack!" Solar Flare Dragon and Queen's Paladin surged forwards, Lyrius bracing himself against the stream of magma and sword slash that left him smoldering. (LP: 4700)

Weevil sneered at Lyrius. "And that's just a taste of what I'm going to give you! I set one card face-down and end my turn!"

"My move!" Ember drew for her turn. ( _Okay, Solar Flare Dragon didn't burn me that round. So I think it's a safe bet that anything that Queen takes control of loses its special abilities. But I don't have anything to get rid of the Parasite on my field.)_ "I set one monster in defense mode and end my turn."

"I draw." Lyrius did so and slapped down a card. In a flash of light, a new monster appeared. A tall, bearded knight clad in heavy plate that identified him as belonging to the Spade suit. Especially his double-headed spade battleaxe. "This is King's Paladin and when he's summoned with Queen's Paladin in play, I can summon Jack's Paladin!" (1900/1600)

"Hey! I control that monster!" Weevil protested.

"There only needs to be one in play, not on my field." Lyrius informed him with a touch of smugness. This time, his knight was taller than the other two and had heavy plate. But had foregone the shield that the other two carried to wield twin scimitars that were modeled as have diamonds. (2400/1000)

"Tch…" Weevil growled. "So you've got some more knights! So what? In front of my Parasite Sovereign, they'll be bug food!"

"True." Lyrius watched as insect like features sprouted on his monsters, their armor suddenly gleaming dully as it became a carapace instead of metal. "But they're still mine and so I activate Jack's Paladin's effect!"

A green glow suffused the bug knight. "I can add one of the cards that refers to my Poker Knights from my deck to my hand. I select the spell card Royal Straight."

He caught the spell card and swept it into his disk. "I activate Royal Straight by tributing all three Poker Knights. Thankfully, my Paladins count as their original counterparts."

"I have your monster! It's _mine!_ " Weevil snarled and stamped his foot angrily. "You can't sacrifice it!"

"Royal Straight declares I must tribute the three attack position Poker Knights. Not that they have to be mine." Lyrius said politely even as Weevil just hissed at him.

"Ha! Not so much fun when you're not the only one exploiting loopholes, is it?" Ember snickered at Weevil's frustrated noise.

"I summon Royal Straight Slasher from the deck." Lyrius' new monster exploded out in a flurry of traditional playing cards, his teal and gold armor modeled after all four suits. "And then I'll activate his special ability. I send monsters with levels one through five from my deck to the graveyard."

He held up a fan of five cards to reveal they met the requirements and then shoved them into into his graveyard. "Royal Straight Slasher! Destroy his field and his poor excuse for a monarch! _Royal Straight Slash!_

With a cry, the knight slashed his sword into the ground and energy shot from the impact point, dividing itself as hit rocketed towards Weevil's field. THen the energy suddenly broke away into motes of nothingness as it slammed into a barrier a few feet away. "What did you do?"

"My trap card is what I did!" Weevil pointed at the now face-up card with a triumphant smirk." Solemn Strike! It may have cost me fifteen hundred life points, but your monster's effect was negated and now it's destroy!" (WLP: 6000)

Lyrius grimaced as lightning rained down from on high and blew his Royal Straight Slasher to pixels. "That is a rare and new card...you went and availed yourself of Peter's stock."

"That's right!' Weevil smirked. "I'm more than ready for both you now."

"We shall see- I set one card face-down..." Lyrius folded his arms to show he was done with his turn.

"Draw." Weevil did so and sneered. "I activate Spellbook Inside the Pot, so now we all draw three cards." All the duelists complied and then Weevil gave Lyrius a look of mocking pity. "I'm sorry I destroyed your monster! Here! You can have a replacement!"

Lyrius frowned as a towering metal golem appeared on his field, buzz saws decorating it everywhere and even taking the place of its face. "Grinder Golem?" (3000/300)

"That's right and it generates two Grinder Tokens to my side of the field in attack mode." Weevil didn't pay any heed to the two smaller versions of Grinder Golem that appeared alongside his monsters even as he discarded a card. "But since my parasite makes your golem a bug, I'll just take it right back!"

The monster vanished and reappeared alongside Parasite Sovereign. "Now all of my monsters attack you directly!"

Lyrius endured the flames of Solar Flare Dragon as they erupted around him, but snapped out his hand as Grinder Golem launched buzz saws at him. "I activate Power Wall in response to the Golem's attack!" (LLP: 3200)

The buzz saws threw sparks into the air as they ground against an invisible barrier that appeared around him. "Since your Golem has three thousand attack points, I divide that by five and send that many cards from my deck to my graveyard!"

He held up six cards and then dropped them into the graveyard, the buzz saws flying off into the darkness as the barrier flared with light.

Weevil just laughed mockingly. "Fine! Even if I don't kill your life points, you'll throw your own deck away before too long! One card face-down and I end my turn!"

"You're fighting two on one, Weevil and you're going to regret ignoring me!" Ember tore her draw free and pointed to her set monster, which flipped up to to reveal a rather sneaky-looking man in black with a grenade launcher that appeared to be belt-fed from the canister on his back. "This is Grenadier!" (1500/500)

"Grenadier, Grenada, I don't care about you, you weakling!" Weevil snapped. "I'm going to finish you off as soon as I'm done with this bat-bastard here!"

"Not if I finish you first!" Ember tossed down another card and in a torrent of blue flames, a burly warrior appeared wielding a massive blue-crystal broadsword. "Blue Flame Swordsman in attack mode!" (1800/1600)

"So you go one of Wheeler's lame-o cards, good for you." Weevil said dismissively.

"Please! Don't you know blue flames burn the hottest of all? In fact, my Blue Flame Swordsman burns so hot he can share it with others! I lower his attack points by eleven hundred to increase the attack of Grenadier by that amount!" Energy flowed between the two monsters and Grenadier cocked his weapon with an eager grin. (1800-700) (1500-2600)

"Big deal!"

"How bout a big bang? _Grenade Barrage!_ " The monster fired a single grenade that slammed into Weevil's Grinder Token. There was a pause and then it exploded, Weevil swearing as he was pelted with red-hot shards of his monster. (WLP: 3400)

Ember grinned broadly as her monster cocked his weapon again. "And guess what, Weevil? When Grenadier attacks the first time, he gains five hundred attack points...and then has to attack all other monsters you have!" (2600-3100)

" _What."_ Weevil's jaw went a little slack as the monster fired a flurry of rounds that all lodged into his monsters, his Parasite Sovereign taking several all at once.

"You want the best pest control?" Ember waved mockingly good-bye in Weevil's direction. "Then you kill it with fire!"

The grenades all went off at once, Weevil's monsters being torn apart like they were paper mache from the blasts. Weevil himself was left staring with wide eyes as the torrent of fire and debris surged towards him. " _Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-"_

The explosion punished him for his dirty mouth by slamming into him like a freight train and washing over him.

"Yes!" Ember pumped her fist and glared at the flames covering Weevil's field, the duelist's own pained howling lost to the roar. "That's what you get for trying to kill innocent people, you bastard! Just consider it a preview of hell!"

Lyrius watched the flames quietly, his expression tightening even as the screams vanished. "He's not dead…"

"Even if he isn't, his life points should be zero!" Ember said doggedly.

"Didn't I say I'm harder to kill than a cockroach!?" Weevil snarled from within the blaze, his form shouldering its way past the burning bulk that had been Parasite Sovereign. The flames died away, revealing his clothing burned away across his arms and chest. Little embers glowed along the edges and in the few scraps of hair that hadn't burned.

But they were nothing compared to burning rage in his eyes. Behind him, the monster shadow stretched out and gave another busted calliope screech. "I'm going to make you pay for that, bitch!"

"You lost, dammit!" Ember snapped. "I hit you with more than six thousand points of damage. How'd you survive?"

"Idiot, I summoned my Parasite Sovereign in defense mode!" Weevil sneered. "So you missed out on dealing enough damage to defeat me!" (WLP: 200)

Ember growled and muttered something uncomplimentary in Japanese under her breath. "Fine, I set one card face-down and end my turn. But Lyrius is going to take you down!"

"Indeed." Lyrius drew for his turn and a card slid out of his graveyard. "I banish The Phantom Knight's Fog Blade to summon The Phantom Knights of Dusty Robes from my graveyard!" Fog spilled out of Lyrius' graveyard to resolve into a phantasm wearing tattered, worn purple robes. (800/1000)

"Direct attack!" The phantom monster shot across the field.

"Reveal trap card, Insect Horde! I summon as many level 3 or lower insects I can from the graveyard! Like my Pupa of Moth!" Weevil sneered as a man-sized pulsating pupa appeared in front of him, followed by the gangly limbed parasite. "And you remember what happens when Fusion Parasite is summoned, right?"

The parasite shot forwards in a single leap, its mouth tearing open a hole in the giant cocoon. It wormed inside and there was a distinctly not-human screaming noise as whatever was inside thrashed and warped. The cocoon bulged as limbs pressed feebly against its surface, then it went eerily still. " _Evolve beyond limitations and celebrate the birth of new power! Become the herald of titanic terrors! Fusion Summon!"_

The cocoon unfolded gracefully, like it was a flower. The wrappings became vibrantly colored wings and what was underneath was positively small compared to their length and breadth. Dark, dirty colors decorated its hairy body while bramble-like anteater sprouted from its head. To top it off, its body wriggled and tendrils slid free in place of legs while it opened a mouth to give a sickening cry. _"Parasite Coax-Light!_ " (0/0)

Weevil stretched out his hand. "One per turn, Coax-Light can summon another insect monster from my deck by tributing another Insect monster in play!"

"You don't have any-" Ember cut herself short as the Parasite Paracide on her field made a gurgling noise to get her attention and then her Grenadier stumbled forwards to Coax-Light. Then she looked a little sick as Coax-Light mouth shot out a fanged proboscis that tore Grenadier's head off with ease. "Oh crap!"

"You know, I have to give you credit for inspiring me to try a little harder to find loopholes! It was a great idea!" Weevil cackled as Grenadier's body exploded into pixels and wind whipped up on his field with the beating of wings. The magical shadows around them seemed to expand to make room for the monstrous moth that hovered above its master. "Behold Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth!" (3500/3000)

"Behold Raiden, Hand of the Lightsworn!" The scarf-wearing assassin appeared, folding his arms imperiously. "And I will tune him together with Dusty Robes! _When the darkness is scattered into tatters, their fury and pain resonate to bring you forth! Let your rage illuminate your foe and shatter the strength of the mighty! Clear Wing Synchro Dragon!"_

The two monsters burst into rings of light that swarmed together, folding into one another to form a serpentine dragon colored black, blue and white with two sets of crystal wings unfolding from its back. (2500/2000)

Weevil just sneered. "That monster can't stop me! You can't attack Coax-Light while there's insects in play and my Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth is in defense mode!"

"I do not to need to attack you to defeat you, Weevil. I set one card face-down." Lyrius said firmly. "End of turn."

"Draw!" Weevil ripped the card free, his face twisting in glee. "Hey, did you forget? Your monster is an insect-type thanks to my Parasites and I-"

"I activate Mystical Space Typhoon!" Lyrius waved his hand and his card flipped up, a cyclone launching free. It zoomed across the field and destroyed Weevil's Invasive Parasite card. Moments later, the two Parasite Paracides also exploded. "Without your monsters infecting our fields, you have no resources to tribute for your Coax-Light."

Weevil just let out an inarticulate snarl and slapped down a card, a man-sized roach wielding a sword appearing alongside his other two monsters. "I normal summon Roachie and then I'll tribute him to Coax-Light's effect-"

"Clear Wing Synchro Dragon! _Dichroic Mirror!_ " The dragon's wings began to glow vibrantly, Coax-Light shying away from it fearfully. "Since your fusion's level is higher than five, Clear Wing Synchro Dragon can negate and destroy it!"

"No!" Weevil stared in horror as Coax-Light folded in on itself, shriveling as Clear Wing's light began to burn it away. Then with a pathetic cry, it exploded. "You'll pay for that!"

Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth's eyes began to glow and it beat its wings, kicking up a small tornado that that shredded its way towards Lyrius' dragon. "Take this!"

"Once again, your impulsiveness is your downfall, Weevil." Lyrius said calmly and nodded at Ember, who smirked and tapped a button on her disk.

"I activate the trap Ambush Guard! I tribute my Blue Flame Swordsman and then his defense score is added to Clear Wing's attack!" The warrior morphed into blue flames that wreathed Clear Wing, the dragon already collecting light in its wings again. (2500-4100)

"Counterattact! _Dark Triumph!_ " Lyrius' dragon obeyed instantly, unleashing a mixed stream of coruscating teal energy and blue flames that blew through the tornado like it wasn't there. It drilled a hole through the giant moth, the creature actually freezing in mid-motion as it tried to process what happened. Then it exploded. (WLP: 0)

Weevil stared at the space where it had been, disbelief on his face slowly morphing to anger as his fists clenched and his shoulders began to tremble. "Noooo…."

"Oh, trust me, it's about to get a lot worse!" Ember crowed and then took a step back as Weevil's monstrous shadow lifted free of the ground and began to claw at the air towards them. "For us…"

"Kill you...kill you…" The shadow responded to Weevil's growing rage, the darkness on it flaking off to reveal bladed, segmented legs, hungry compound eyes and an ever-tooth filled maw. It was bigger and more evolved than his Fusion Parasites. "Kill you!"

"Move!" Lyrius tackled Ember even as the darkness game fell apart, revealing the inferno the bar had become and then the monster was lunging for them with a desperate screech.

TTTTTTT

"I hope you can give me more of a challenge than the rest of the Satellite scum," Peters drawled as he drew five cards from his deck. "This darkness game will be the last one you ever have, so better make it a good one!" (PLP: 8000)

He fingered his cards, eyeing Serenity with a slightly disturbing amount of eagerness. "You'll be trading your scrubs for a chain and collar soon. The Underground's gonna love you."

"Been there, beat the top dog, got the T-shirt." Serenity smirked at Peter's scowl. "I'm not like the rest of the residents here, Peters. A little bottom-feeder like you can't intimidate anymore than you can see your toes." (SLP: 8000)

"We'll just see about that, girlie! I draw to start this duel!" He held up a spell card. "I activate Dark World Corridor! I add one Dark World card to my hand and then discard a card!" He caught the card his deck spat out and then dropped on in the graveyard.

Serenity watched as with a wicked cackling, a squat grey-skinned demon appeared on her field, crouching precariously on his card in defense mode. "And who's this?" (100/300)

"That's the monster I discarded, Ceruli, Guru of Dark World and he pops himself to your side when I ditch him. Of course, he doesn't like that I did so and that means I have to discard a card from my hand." Peters dropped another card into the graveyard and then smirked when it slid right back out. "But since he's your guy, it triggers my monster's own effect."

A tailed demon burst free of the ground, bigger than even Peters himself. It sneered at Serenity and slashed open the air next to it. "Lucent, Netherworld of Dark World gets a special power when he's summoned after you make me discard him. I can summon another Dark Worlder from my deck." (2400/0)

Serenity frowned a bit as another Ceruli appeared alongside the first. "I don't like where this is going…"

"Oh, trust me, girlie, it's just gonna keep getting worse." Peters discarded another card and this time, a burly silver demon tore free of the ground and brandished a wicked blade. "Silvia, Warlord of Dark World is summoned when I have to discard him and since your effect is the one that did it, you gotta put two cards from your hand on the bottom your deck!" (2300/1400)

Serenity complied with the effect with a slight grumble of annoyance and sighed as she watched the two Ceruli suddenly drift over to Peter's field. "Owner's Seal, right?"

"You betcha. Can't have you profiting off my work, ya know." Peters chuckled and pointed, his two Ceruli vanished to be replaced by a powerfully built demon wielding a twin-headed battleaxe. He grinned with all his fangs and spread its oily-looking wings. "I sacrifice them both to summon Reign-Beaux, Overlord of Dark World." (2500/1800)

"Netherlord, Warlord, Overlord...if everyone's playing lord, who're they ruling over?" Serenity wanted to know.

"Dammed if I know or care. Just know they damn you." Peters laughed at his own joke and placed the last card in his hand into disk. "I end my turn."

"Draw." Serenity did so and watched as Reign-Beaux suddenly broke apart into violent mist that wafted over to her field. "A trap card?"

"Eradicator Epidemic Virus! I tribute a monster with more than twenty-five grand in attack and then I can destroy all of your spell or traps for the next three turns! I think I pick...Spell!" Peters sneered as three of Serenity's remaining four cards promptly exploded into dust. "This duel's mine and once I win it, Master Weevil is gonna give you to me!"

"Okay, first, no one should ever call Weevil 'master'. Second…" Serenity's lips thinned in a cold smile as pixels flew out of the darkness, piling together and solidifying into a spire of warped flesh that had a hazard symbol on it. "This duel is just beginning."

"What? What just happened?" Peters stared at the flesh as golden orb hovered its way to the top, emblazoned with runes and the Eye of Horus. It began to crack, bits of darkness spilling free and trickling down the flesh...which slowly began to beat rhythmically. "It's...it's alive?"

"This is my Spellplauge continuous card. Once per turn, when it's in the graveyard, I can activate it from there. And because I now have it, I can summon Virus Nuclear Ringmaster in attack mode without tribute!" Serenity's monster lived up to its name- a circus ringmaster in a tattered and bloodstained uniform, flesh rotted away to reveal bleached bone underneath and a pulsing hazard symbol carved into his chest. (2500/0)

"So you've got a deadman deadbeat…." Peters growled out, but he gripped his cards a little tighter as the monster let out a eerie cackling.

"Nuclear Ringmaster attacks Silva!" The ringmaster made a theatrical gesture, producing a whip of green and black flames from the ether and lashing it out at the demon. Silva's axe clattered to the ground as the whip bound the demon up. He howled as it burned at his flesh, then promptly exploded into pixels. "Now one of Ringmaster's effects activates! Since he destroyed a monster in battle, I can destroy one of my Spellplauges cards and summon another Virus monster from my deck so long as their level is equal to or less than your monster's!" (PLP: 7800)

The pillar of rotten flesh dissolved away as Serenity caught the card her deck spat out and she tossed it down. Looming over Ringmaster, her new monster was a circus strongman. But his clothing was almost gone thanks to the mutated muscles tearing through its skin and shredded pants. A barbed wire harness seemed to working overtime to keep the monster together. Under a cracked, cock-eyed construction hat a head made entirely out of the Eye of Horus peered out. "Virus Wrecker Strongman is taking center ring!" (2500/0)

The Strongman roared again and produced a massive wrecking ball from out of nowhere, twirling the heavy object above his head like it weighed nothing. "Go give Lucent a taste of your act! _Crusher Blow!"_

Peters gawked as the Strongman's wrecking ball pulverized Lucent from the waist up in a single blow, the demon's legs remaining standing for a second before they toppled over. A few gruesome twitches later and they blew apart into pixels. "When Wrecker Strongman destroys a monster, he lets me add a Spellplague card from my deck to my hand, which means your Virus can't destroy it." (PLP: 7700)

Her deck slid out a card and she placed it into her disk, the pillar of rotten flesh appearing in front of her. "It's another Spellplague, so that'll do it for me. End of turn."

Peters drew, trying to not let his trembling fingers show. "Don't think...you're gonna beat me, bitch. I draw!" Snapping the card up, his confidence shattered at the sight of another Reign-Beaux. ( _I can't...I can't summon him!)_

"Oh, wow. That look on your face...must have been a very bad draw. That happens sometimes when you duel." Serenity waited for a moment as Peters just groaned helplessly and shook his head at her. "My move then, draw!"

Snapping it up, Serenity pointed at her field and another Spellplague rose up alongside the first. "I'll activate the one I've got in my graveyard and then summon Virus Death Clown!" The sounds of little bells filled the air, their source revealed to be a dancing clown. At one point it may have been someone wearing clown mask, but that had long since passed. Tattered, ragged clothing had been patched by sewing it into the skin directly while the grinning clown mask seemed to have become fused to its face. It juggled a set of knives. (500/500)

"All three of my monsters attack you directly!" Serenity snapped her fingers and pointed at Peters. "Give him his money's worth!"

Peters howled as he was lashed with a whip, then punched hard in the stomach. Knives flew past his face and blood droplets flicked from the wounds. (PLP: 7800-5300-2800-2300)

"When Death Clown deals you damage and I've got a Spellplauge in play, I can draw a card. But if I have two, I can instead add another Virus monster to my hand!" Serenity caught the card her deck slid out. "I end my turn."

"D-draw…" Peters fumbled for the card, unnerved by her growling monsters across the way and even more so by that dark smile Serenity was giving him from behind them. Then his eyes fell on the card he had drawn and he let out a victory whoop. "I activate Parasite Discharge! I can summon Parasite Fusioner from any location. (0/0)

Serenity frowned as the spell card appeared in front of him, glowing and releasing a lamprey-like monster. It was the size of one of her arms, with several tendril-like legs and a ringed mouth full of teeth. "I'm guessing with a name like that, it fuses with things."

"You got it! I use its effect, fusing it and the Reign-Beaux in my hand together!" The looming demonic appeared in front of Peters, not even flinching as the parasite latched onto its chest and burrowed inside of it. Then Reign-Beux roared, his wings dropping off as diaphanous, fleshy butterfly wings erupted from his back. Veins bulged all over his body and one arm was destroyed completely as tendrils shredded it from the inside. "I bet Reign-Beuax Twice wasn't weren't you expecting, doc!" (2500/1800)

"I'm not intimidated, Peters, in any way shape or form." Serenity folded her arms dismissively. "So gloat about how powerful your new monster is and how he's going to beat me already."

"You won't be so cocky when I explain his effect!" Peters yanked a stack of cards off his deck, fanning them out to reveal five. "I can discard the top five cards of my deck and then all of my Dark World monsters are treated as having been discard from my hand!"

He shoved the cards into his graveyard and Nuclear Ringmaster suddenly exploded. Followed shortly by Crusher Strongman. "I lost Grapha and Khaaki and both of them can destroy a card of yours when discarded! Reign-Beaux Twice attack and get rid of her last monster!"

Serenity braced herself as the mutated fiend charged and slashed her Death Clown in half. "When Virus Death Clown dies, I can summon another one from my deck!" A new clown appeared crouching on his card defensively and cackling. Then Serenity clutched at her head, her vision swimming as pain pounded over her body. (SLP: 6000)

"Is this your first Darkness Game, girlie? Hahahaha! I guess it's too much for an old broad like you!" Peters sneered. "So let's see you try and fight back! Especially with my Virus still destroying your spell cards!"

"Please, Peters…" Serenity drew and ignored it as the card exploded to dust thanks to the Virus. "You're a one-hit wonder and I'm all set to end this duel!"

"One-hit…? You got lame in the brain or something, woman?" Peters huffed arrogantly. " You ain't got nothing that can defeat my Reign-Beaux Twice!" His sneer was more sincere than Serenity knew- he could almost see the parasite pulsing inside his fiend. ( _Fusion Parasite_ _attached to Reign-Beaux after the fusion and if she tries to kill him, it'll protect him! I'll crush her for sure!)_

"Not at the moment, but your big fiend there probably can't activate his effect again. And as tough as is, a fiend can't beat a monster." Serenity pointed at her two pillars of flesh. "I activate one of the effects of Spellplague since I've got two of them. I can add a Virus monster back to my hand from the graveyard."

She held up Nuclear Ringmaster and then discarded her other card. "I can discard Virus Mutate Chemist from my hand when I control Spellplagues. Having just one means he can fuse my Virus monsters together!" Both of her monsters vanished and a swirling portal opened on her field.

"Fuse all you want, I'll crush it with...my…" Peters lost his train of thought as the fusion emerged from the portal. His brain managed to tell him that the creature this one was based on was probably a elephant. Then it told him to start being scared. "What is it?!"

"Don't you like my Virus Rampage Berserk?" Serenity looked hurt. Her monster just looked angry. The once gentle-looking animal was one, replaced by a monster. Gray skin had failed to contain bulging, angry muscles and ripped badly. But it didn't bleed blood- nuclear waste canisters were lodged into its body, cracked and damaged so they and their host bleed a neon green liquid that pop and fizzled as it burnt a trail down the flesh. Furious pain-filled eyes locked onto Reign-Beaux and Peters and it trumpeted, sawed tusks extending from its face like claws. (2800/0)

Berserk reared up and slammed both front legs into the ground so hard everyone trembled, Serenity's Spellplagues shattering. "When I fusion summon this guy, he destroys all our spell and traps. But then...that's not really a problem for me." The two Spellplagues reformed.

Peters gaped as the fusion parasite exploded into dust from Reign-Beaux. "My monster's protection!"

"Is gone. Now Berserk will make your monster gone, too!" With a roar that decidedly impossible for something like an elephant to make, the elephant charged forwards and a twist of its head skewered Reign-Beaux Twice like he was nothing. The demon lord gurgled and struggled, then blew apart into pixels. (PLP: 2000)

"I'm not...I'm not...done!" Peters managed and glanced at his deck. ( _All I have to do is draw a Dark World monster and I can revive Grapha! He may not be strong enough to defeat that thing, but he'll defend me until I find a way to!)_

"You might as well stop strategizing." Serenity called, relishing the look of surprised fear as Peters jerked his head up to look at her. "I can destroy my Spellplagues to allow my monster to attack again, though the damage from each of these is halved."

She smirked pointedly as her Berseker stamped its feet menacing and charged, her two Spellplagues exploding again. "Good thing I've got two."

"No...no!" Peters, as large and massive as he was, was simply nothing compared to Serenity's monster and could do nothing but scream as the monster slashed him across the chest with its tusks. (PLP: 0)

"Heh...Still got it." Serenity chuckled to herself and then groaned, putting a hand to her heart as pain wracked her body. "I only took one attack...and this is what it feels like? Either I'm starting to feel my age or Lyrius is made of stone…"

Her monster faded away, leaving only her and the unconscious Peters in the slowly evaporating Darkness Game. "I hope Lyrius and the others are doing okay…"

She started as something flickering caught her eye. It was orange...and dancing. "Oh...crap…"

Then the darkness game fell away and flames enveloped her world.

TTTTTTTT

"So what kind of possession we have going on here? Puppet, robot or brainwashed?" Rex asked, not surprised as the Duel Disk that had magically appeared on his arm clicked into active mode. "Cause I need to know much I gotta hold back, kid." (RLP: 8000)

Jinx ignored the dig, activating her Duel Disk and staring at him with laser-like focus from behind her bangs. "Let's duel!" (JLP: 8000)

"Robot, got it." Rex drew for the start of the duel. "I summon Carboneddon in attack mode." Short, black and blocky, the tiny roaring dinosaur looked like it was carved from its namesake. (800/600) "Then I set two cards face-down and call it a turn."

"Draw!" Jinx drew and held up three cards. "Polymerization!" Time Wizard and Baby Dragon appeared behind her and swirled together. When reality snapped back, an ancient, fierce dragon was lumbering onto the playing field. "Fusion Summon Thousand Dragon!" (2400/2000)

"Eh?" Rex lifted an eyebrow as with a low rumble, a twisted-looking slot machine rose up behind Jinx. "Dangerous Machine Type-6? What is this? Wheeler light?"

"Summon X-Saber Uruz!" Jinx slapped the card down onto her disk and a warrior flipped onto her field. He held both of his angled swords in reverse grip and was decked out in red and black. (1600/1000) "Battle! Uruz attacks Carboneddon!"

"Not even an attack name? Definitely robot." Rex watched as his little dinosaur got cleaved in two. He grabbed the card and reached for the graveyard, frowning as his Duel Disk beeped a warning at him. "Hmm?" (RLP: 7200)

"Uruz' effect! When it destroys a monster, it can be tributed to return that monster to the top of the deck!" Jinx pointed and Uruz vanished into sparkles of light.

Rex complied with the effect and then pointed at one of his set cards. It flipped up, revealing it to be a continuous trap that showed two Hydrogeddon and Carboneddon aligned in a math equation with the result being Water Dragon. "Chemical Formula can be used when an 'eddon' monster is destroyed -I can summon another one from the deck."

The trap released a burst of light that resolved into Carboneddon, this time curled up in defense mode. "And your next move is to..."

"Thousand Dragon attacks Carboneddon!" The fusion dragon lumbered forwards and breathed out a noxious gray cloud that eroded the smaller monster away. "Set one card. Turn end!"

"Draw." Rex did so and tossed down a card. With a soft crash, a wave of dirty water splashed onto his field and resolved into a lumbering dinosaur. "I summon Hydrogeddon in attack mode." (1600/1000)

His remaining set card flipped up and Hydrogeddon roared loudly, its form growing bulkier and larger. "Survival of the Fittest equips to Hydrogeddon upon activation and gives it a thousand more attack points. Attack Thousand Dragon! _Hydro Press!_ " (1600-2600)

The dinosaur spat out a bullet of water that slammed into Thousand Dragon and blew it apart. Jinx tapped a button on her Duel Disk. "Soul Rope activates when a monster is destroyed! Pay one thousand life points and summon a four star or lower monster from the deck!" (JLP: 8000-7800-6800) The trap lifted and glowed, spitting out an insectile warrior armor kneeling on a holographic card. "XX-Saber Emmersblade is summoned in defense position!"

"When Hydrogeddon destroys a monster in battle, I can summon another one from the deck." A second roaring water dinosaur appeared and Rex pointed at Emmersblade. "And the monster equipped with Survival of the Fittest can attack twice in a row! _Hydro Press!"_

Emmersblade's torso was blow apart from the water blast, his limbs flying past Jinx who barely seemed to notice. "When Emmersblade is destroyed, I can summon an X-Saber with less than fifteen hundred attack points from the deck!" Another Emmersblade appeared in front of her.

Rex shrugged as a third Hydrogeddon appeared alongside the other two. "Sure, I'll bite. _Hydro Press!"_

The new Hydrogeddon surged forwards and destroyed Emmersblade, its brother simply blow the third one that appeared in front of Jinx away without even trying. Taking its place was a goggled, armored warrior crouching behind a massive blade that almost dwarfed the already small man. "And who is this?" (100/0)

"X-Saber Passhul is summoned in defense mode." Jinx said curtly.

"Alrighty then. I activate Trade-In, discarding my level eight Water Dragon to draw cards." Rex did so and slid one into his disk. "I'll just set this for now. End of turn."

"Draw." Jinx did so and her Dangerous Machine Type-6 pulled its level and began to spin. "During the Standby Phase, this card's effect activates. Depending on the roll, an effect is activates." The slots all spun and landed on a three. "I draw one card."

She did so and then pointed at Passhul, who vanished to be replaced by a bear-like armored knight, red cape fluttering in the wind. "I tribute my monster to summon Commander Gottoms, Swordmaster." (2100/1600)

Before Rex could respond, she was holding up her remaining card, revealing it was a spell card. "Parasite Discharge summons one Fusion Parasite from any location." The card exploded, the shards reforming into the gangly, mottled parasite monster. (0/0)

"Ugly, weak and a parasite. Has Weevil written all over it. So if I destroy it, I'm betting-" Rex frowned as the Parasite leap upon Gottom's chest, tendrils sinking into the monster's flesh as he quivered in pain. A bellow of agony escaped him as the parasite itself shoved its way into the warrior's body. "Well, shit."

"Fusion Parasite immediately fusion summons with any monster I have in my hand or my field when it is special summoned. I selected Commander Gottoms, Swordmaster." Gottoms clutched at his head, sword clattering to the ground. Chitin erupted from the man's flesh like he had be wearing it like a costume, turning him to a gangly carapace-clad version of himself. "Gottoms Feeder is fusion summoned."

"Well, his stats didn't change, so I'm hoping his effect got the same treatment…" Rex sighed as Gottoms' let out a bellowing war cry and cards began to slid out of Jinx's graveyard. "Of course not."

"When summoned, Gottoms summons as many X-Sabers I can from the graveyard." Jinx slapped down her cards, the three Emmersblade and the original Gottoms appeared in front of her. "Gottoms Feeder gains attack points equal to the combined attack points of these monsters"

"What!?" Rex's eyes bugged out as tendrils erupted from Gottoms Feeder's back, stabbing their way into the rest of the monsters. The bug man roared and slammed his fists together as his power soared. "Not good…!" (8100)

"Gottoms Feeder attacks one of the weaker Hydrogeddon." Jinx watched passively as her monster charged and impossibly punched holes in the living mass of water that Rex's dinosaur. The dinosaur exploded into pixels and Rex yowled as the backlash washed over him. (RLP: 700)

"God...freaking... _dammit…_ " Rex managed to gasp between breaths, practically having to drag himself upright to continue. "Lemme tell you, kid, dueling in these things never gets any easier. I'd hate to have to do it for a livin'."

Jinx didn't seem to recognize that she heard him. "Turn end."

"Right, possessed. Not much for talking. I suppose that's better than listening to Weevil's stupid laugh…" Rex drew for his turn. "You didn't follow up with your attacks, so I'm assuming that Gottoms Feeder is the only can attack"

He added the card to his hand. "Of course, I could attack the other monsters to lower Gottoms Feeder's attack score. But you have three Emmersblade and if I destroy them, you'll get replacement monsters that I'm pretty sure Gottoms Feeder will just take power from, too."

Rubbing his chin in thought for a moment, he shrugged and slid a card into his disk. "Smashing Ground destroys the monster with highest attack in play."

A giant mallet appeared and swung itself towards Gottoms Feeder, who just grunted in annoyance as the hammer just shattered when it struck. Followed by one of the Emmersblade. "If Gottoms Feeder would be targeted by an effect, I can destroy another X-Saber to protect him." (8100-6800)

"Figures. Should really get a Lightning Vortex to replace that...but anyway!" Rex caught a card from his graveyard and held it up. "I can banish Chemical Formula to add a Bonding spell or trap from my deck to my hand. I pick Bonding - D20."

He plugged a card into his disk both of his remaining Hydrogeddons dissolved away. "The spell Dino Rampage lets me destroy two dinos I have and summon another from my deck. Like Deutrion." Like his previous two, this monster was made of living water. But it was clearer and heavy-looking. And given the way it snarled at Jinx, more vicious. (2000/1500)

Jinx frowned a bit at the sight of it and Rex just waved a hand dismissively. "I know, I know, I had plenty of picks to go from and some big ones that could even probably take on you Gottoms Feeder. But I need to end this quick and set you free. So I activate Bonding - D20, sending the Deutrion on my field and in my hand along with Oxydeggon to summon Water Dragon Cluster!" His Duetrion vanished and two watery roars resounded as pillars of water rose up in front of him. The twined together, snapping fangs and glowing red eyes forming on them. (2800/2600)

The Water Dragon Cluster suddenly spread a pair of wings and flapped them, Jinx's monsters all retreating as the spraying water burned them like acid. "This guy is kinda toxic, since all your monsters just lost their attack points and their effects." (0x5)

Jinx just watched as the Water Dragon surged forwards and enveloped her original Gottoms. There was a gurgling noise and then pixels flew out of the water. (JLP: 4000)

Rex smirked and snapped his fingers. "As a quick effect, Water Dragon Cluster can summon out two of the original Water Dragon from my hand, deck or graveyard!" The twining waters separated into powerful looking water dragons. (2800/2600x2) "Of course, they're both in defense mode...but that's what Final Attack Orders is for, right?"

His trap lifted and both dragons roared as they reared up into attack position. Jinx again didn't bat an eye as the unleashed twin streams of water that blew her two remaining Emmersblade into pixels. (JLP: 4000-1200-0)

Rex watched as Jinx reeled and then lost consciousness, collapsing onto the floor. "There...that wasn't so hard…"

He groaned and his own legs buckled beneath him, leaving him to fall limply to the floor as well. He didn't feel it, though. His whole body had went numb. "Tanking a hit like that...it is a bit more than these old bones can take...kid, when you wake up, you better treat this fossil to a real drink as a 'thank you.'..."

The darkness game gave way as he lost consciousness and he could only swear weakly as he saw the roof of his bar come down on them like an avalanche of fire.

TTTTTTT

Serenity returned to reality via the snap judgment error her body made by trying to inhale dirt instead of air.

At least there was air to breath. Shouldn't she have been on fire?

She rolled over, gasping a little to reveal Satellite's clouded night sky above with a few faint stars trying to peek through. There was a feeling of heat to her left and it clicked that she was outside the bar and safe.

There was a roar, a screech of pain and a curse.

Okay, 'safe' may have been a relative term.

She sat up, wincing as fresh pain rocked her body and at the damaged grinding noise her right arm was making. A glance showed the limb to be badly dented and the fingers melted on the tips with wires and gears poking out everywhere - she must have tried to catch the burning debris.

Another wild animal noise snapped her head up and she could only stare at the source.

Weevil was standing in front of some kind of giant, super version of the Fusion Parasite monster, both his forehead and Millennium Star glowing fiercely and the golden light made the look of fury on his all the more so. The creature itself was reared up over him, it's bladed tendril leg things lashing at out at its targets.

Ember was stuck playing defensively, her sword swatting or parrying the whip-like strikes away or buying her time to move. She was trying to lunge closer to Weevil, but the monster kept her at bay.

Nephyire looked like several holes had been stabbed in her smoldering, blackened body, but she was ignoring them. What she couldn't ignore was the tendril that had coiled around her body and was squeezing. The mummy was straining, sand feebly trying to do something, but was getting nowhere. Her mask was starting to crack and crumble apart as the tendril squeezed tighter.

Resonae was having better luck. Her muzzle was soaked with ichor, the two flopping pieces of tendril at her hooves poor of her ferocity. Her mane and tail were blazing, fangs bared as she pranced to and fro, snapping at any tendrils trying to get close to her and doing her level best get close enough to sink her fangs into the monster.

"The lot of you can just die already!" Weevil hissed and his creature responded, slamming down in front of him and nearly snaring Resonae with its whirling maw of teeth while at the time Ember and Nephyire went flying as it clubbed the Shadowchaser with the mummy.

"You first, Weevil!" Ember retorted and got a swat across the chest by a tendril for her trouble.

"I already burned that boogeyman, the rest of you are just worms!" Weevil insisted and then screamed in pain, clutching at his throat. His monster was doing the same, sand being power blasted into the gaping maw by a stumbling Nephyire.

"I will not let you harm another, monster." The mummy insisted even as her body began to crumble and Serenity's eyes widened. Nephyire was literally pouring herself into that attack.

Weevil gargled and hacked, his body nearly seizing up as it tried to eject something that wasn't physically there. But his eyes burned and he held out the Star with a shaky hand. The item flashed and Nephyire went stumbling back as the force of the blast disintegrated her arm. Another blew out a chunk of her torso and a third eliminated a leg. She folded and crumpled, collapsing to the ground in a heap of dead person.

The monster had better luck than Weevil, vomiting up sand and teeth...just in time for Ember to flying out of the darkness and drive her sword into its eye. "Laugh this off!"

Weevil screamed, one of own eyes exploding in a bloody mess. The monster roared and Ember yelped in terror as it heaved itself into the air and body-slammed its head into the poor Shadowchaser. The teen groaned as the monster retreated, trying to rise. But a swat from a tendril knocked her sword away and she was rolling to avoid being skewered by another.

"Shit..dammit...aggh…" Weevil was heaving for breath, one hand covering his eye and in the blazing firelight, he looked more like a wild animal than a person. The Star flashed and Ember went skidding backwards across the ground like ball he'd kicked at full force. "I'll kill you all!"

 _(Prey should not talk as if it were not food!)_ Resonae's angry voice rang in Serenity's head, the Nightmare galloping around the lashing monster, her horn and fangs slashing and tearing at its bulk. When a tendril snared her to throw her away, she merely gave of a wicked, laughing scream and twisted impossibly for a equine, one bite of her fangs giving her leverage to rip the whole thing free from the monster's side.

Serenity watched with wide eyes as the Nightmare battled, a mix of savage grace and raw, predatory power. Lyrius had said defeating Resonae to claim her as a mount had been no easy feet and she saw why. Resonae was not a horse, she was a predator. Plain and simple. And she knew it.

Resonae's horn gouged a line across the monster's side and then lodged sharply, a flare of her mane being the only warning before energy tore a hole in the opposite. Weevil screamed as a similar hole opened on his back in a spray of blood and Resonae seized the opening. A sharp lunge and her fangs were sank into Weevil's shoulder, one forehoof bracing her against Weevil's body.

There was a ugly, impossible 'crack' that Serenity recognized as the sound of bones being crunched apart and Weevil opened his mouth to scream, but there was too much pain for noise to come out as Resonae ripped his arm off.

The Millennium Star surged with power and Resonae was sent tumbling end over end, smoking as golden energy coruscated over her body.

"...b..b...biiiittcchhh!" Weevil screamed as his brain finally processed what happened and he stared at the bleeding, bloody hunks of his shoulder with disbelieving eyes. His curses devolved into cries of agony as he twisted and thrashed in a vain attempt to cope with the horrendous pain he had to be feeling.

Resonae staggered to her feet even as Weevil's monster sagged to the ground with a heavy thud, chewing on his arm like a morsel before spitting it out in disgust. _(You taste as rotten as your soul!)_

She advanced on him menacingly, but her mane and tail flickered and died before her eyes lolled back and she collapsed without a sound.

"Resonae!" Serenity shouted in fear. The Nightmare didn't look to be hurt, but she'd be barely keeping herself fed since they'd been here. And Weevil had hit her with the magical equivalent of being run into by a car.

Weevil's head jerked at the sound of Serenity's voice, his bloody gaze zeroing in on her with lethal efficiency. " _You."_

He clawed the ground, dragging himself towards her and his monster lurched on its remaining legs, stumbling towards her. "This is your fault, Wheeler! All your fault!"

Serenity scrambled backwards, but her damaged cybernetics weren't responding to her commands very well and she barely made any gains.

Weevil just kept coming, the glowing Eye of Horus surging on his head. "I'm going to make you suffer…! For everything!"

The doctor part of Serenity had seen this kind of thing - the pain was so overwhelming that Weevil had latched onto anything that made sense through its haze. The rest of her was desperately trying to figure a way out because Weevil had a giant fucking monster and even wounded as it was, no sixty-year old doctor was going to have a chance in fighting it.

The monster stumbled along with Weevil, then it drove one of its remaining tendrils into his back. Weevil jerked, gasped and with a disgusting sound, a insectile-like exploded out of his shoulder. It ended in a pincer claw instead of fingers, but it was enough for him to push himself to his feet. He swayed, stumbled and staggered, but always forwards. And his gaze never left Serenity. "Gonna make you scream…"

Serenity seized her damaged arm and with frightening ease, pulled it off her shoulder. Her teeth tore at what little covering remained and then she was tugging and tearing at wires desperately, fearfully.

"What's wrong!? Are you waiting for an arm like mine?!" Weevil leered and clacked his new appendage, lashing out. Only to be intercepted by Serenity's metal leg, his pincers grinding against the metal. "Eh!?"

Serenity swallowed her fear and glared at him around mouthful of wiring. "Choke on me, you bastard!"

"That's an idea…!" Weevil roared and his pincers sheared through her metal leg like it was tin foil. Behind him, his monster reared up, maw opening wide. "You do dental work, don't you Wheeler!?"

Serenity hurled her metal arm into the creature's arm with all the strength she could muster. "It's my first time! How'd this work for you!?"

The arm was snared in the creature's mouth, a deadly whine emerging from it and Weevil's eyes widened briefly….then the arm fizzled and popped, smoke leaking from it

Weevil stared at it a moment as his monster chomped down on it and then he turned back to Serenity, what was left of his sanity giggling maniacally. "Bit of a dud…"

Serenity felt fear claw at her heart, unable to do push herself backwards any further and couldn't help but flinch as Weevil's new arm reached for her.

" _Weevil."_ The voice echoed out above the roaring flames of the bar, rough and dangerous.

Weevil rocked as his pain-addled brain processed what was going on and he whirled to stare at the inferno fearfully. "You're dead! Burnt up! ASHES!"

" _No."_ Lyrius emerged from the blaze, shedding shadows, ash, debris and flames with nary a care. His shirt was gone and there were fresh burns on his chest, but he didn't seem to notice.

"I KILLED YOU!" Weevil screamed defiantly. "YOU'RE DEAD!"

" _You cannot kill me, Weevil._ " Lyrius' hair was flowing behind him like a mass of living darkness, his black eyes ruthlessly cold.

"Then I'll just try harder!" Weevil snarled and held out his hand, his giant Fusion Parasite screeching as it scuttled for him and reared up with its mouth wide.

Lyrius merely picked up Ember's fallen blade. The weapon was swallowed up by darkness and he swung it almost lazily in an arc in front of him. _"Mugetsu!"_

The darkness exploded off the weapon in a crescent, the sword itself shattering apart. The attack didn't cleave Weevil's monster in two - it destroyed the part of it came in contact with and left the two large pieces to hit the ground with wet thuds behind him, twitching and thrashing in their death throes.

Weevil stared numbly, not even aware as his body gained similar wounds. "But...but...my power…"

" _Your power is nothing but a false shadow. Did I not tell you before, Weevil?"_ Lyrius walked up to the smaller man, looming over him. _"Those who play at dark powers will be consumed by powers darker than themselves."  
_

"...b-bastard!" Weevil lashed out with the Millennium Star, but Lyrius' hand knifed it away and sent the golden trinket whirling away until it lodged in the ground by one of its points.

" _You. Your false power. And your false pride."_ Lyrius seized Weevil's face in a bone-crushing grip, hoisting him in the air like he weighed nothing. " _I will shatter them all."_

"No...no...not like this!" Weevil screamed. "Not like this! I'm going to be king!"

" _Long may you reign. In hell."_ Lyrius said coldly and magic arced down his arm.

A bony fist slammed into Lyrius' face and sent him sprawling into the dirt. He threw up a guard as a stomp tried to cave in his chest and then vanished in a burst of shadow. He reappeared upright, standing protectively in front of Serenity.

"Sorry, but I'm not leaving this island without something to show for it and if I can't have souls, I'll take what I can get." The lich said conversationally as he grabbed the still dumbfounded Weevil and slung him over his shoulder.

"You are not leaving." Lyrius said sharply and black magic lashed from his whipping arm, the lich grunting in pain as it was shoved backwards by the force of it.

"Oh…" The lich watched the inky magic evaporate from its fingertips. "It is you, Mister Stormcloud. And here I thought I was dealing with your run-of-the-mill angsty, brooding antihero. Well, I apologize for taking you so lightly and giving you only _Weevil_ , to play with.

He gestured and Lyrius threw himself in front of Serenity as a wave of force slammed into them and shoved them into the wall hard. "But until next time, I'm afraid. I'm not in the mood to fight you and that Shadowchaser, weakened as you are."

There was the sound of flapping wings and the lich pulled a ring off of one of its bony fingers. He crushed the gem and threw it into the air, where the pieces ignited into a swirling portal that he vanished into without any preamble. Moments later, a flock of crows descended and resolved into Rayearth.

She glanced around for the lich, then paused to do another take as she took in the injured combatants, the burning bar and the dissolving away corpse of Weevil's monster.

Pulling a cigar out of her sleeve, she lit it off a piece of burning debris and twisted towards Lyrius before taking a drag off it. "You're not very good at this 'winning' thing, are you?"

TTTTTTT

 _A/N_ : _This one took longer to write than expected. The duels went through several iterations, as did the final scene. (including Lyrius just out and out killing Weevil, Weevil killing Rex, etc). It was originally intended to keep the story on Satellite, but the Shadowchasers are capable officers of the law and so the story is going to move into Neo Domino for a bit._

 _Bit of trivia- the monster spirit Weevil pulled out is in fact, not his ka, just a tablet monster. So that's why killing it didn't kill him. As for what his true ka is, well...you'll see._

 _But next time, our heroes recover from the night's events and plans are laid for the future...but you know what they saw about the best laid plans of mice and men..._


	6. Lull

Kintsugi  
By 7th Librarian

Chapter 6: Lull

 _Lyrius is fighting._

 _He is always fighting._

 _Steel sparks as it grinds against steel and he sweeps the blow aside, a slash of his weapon on the in-step removing the armored knight's knee and sending it crashing to the ground. Without stopping, he rushes forwards. Towards the throne at the far end of the room. On it sits an eight foot tall darkly handsome man with a cool sneer on his face, casual and relaxed despite the bodies littering the floor around him. Despite Lyrius' whole body seething and shedding blackness like a blazing fire._

 _Tangled in one of the man's six-fingered hands is length of gold chain. And at the other end, naked and uncaring save for the lavish, worshipful attentions she is giving the man's shaft, is his wife._

 _Another knight lunges from the dark void that make up the walls of the room and Lyrius cuts through sword, armor and flesh without slowing. And charges closer to the throne._

 _The darkly handsome man - so beautiful as to be cruel - simply closes his eyes in pleasure as his slave starts stroking him._

" _My lord Graz'zt…" The words are sincere, reverent despite being barely audible to her mouth being stretched impossibly over the head._

 _Lyrius explodes further with darkness, the ground cracking and fragmenting with his powerful steps. Even as a figure drops down - armored, female, dual-wielding scimitars - and halts his charge as their weapons meet, the marble flooring erupts in a shockwave of debris._

 _They duel. Lyrius uncaring of the fresh wounds being nicked open on his body and not even thrown as his sword is sliced into three piece as his opponent scissors their own weapons, the tips nearly ripping open his throat. Blood sprays over the warrior's helm, Lyrius curses in dark magic and the blood ignites even as his wound seals._

" _Master…" She is kneeling, eager face pressed into the floor as Graz'zt seizes her hips and pushes brutally into her. Her ecstatic cry is louder than even the shriek of snapping metal as Lyrius' blazing kicks shatter his opponent's crossed weapon guard and sends them skidding backwards in a spray of blood and metal._

 _He doesn't give them the time to recover, seizing the warrior's face in a grip that could crush iron and that does - their helm crumples under his fingers and a surge of magic blows the metal apart and leave blood spluttering over his hand._

 _He drags the defeated warrior along with him, advancing on the throne like a storm that just so happened to have a human face._

 _Graz'zt is uncaring, regarding Lyrius with an amused smile even as beneath him, she is gasping and thrashing in pleasure from the Abyssal Lord's efforts. "She is mine."_

" _No." The word is unshakeable, unyielding. Laden with his power. The room itself seems to recoil in surprise at the sheer force Lyrius put into it._

" _She was mine before she was ever yours." Gra'zt lifts her, pumping her, using her. "You are mine. Whatever you make, whatever you create, belongs to me."_

" _Never."_

" _You certainly don't want it. Why did you let her go?" Gra'zt smiles darkly as Lyrius' fury increases and nods his head towards the warrior in Lyrius' death grip. "Why did you kill her?"_

 _Lyrius finds himself unable to ignore the desire to look and does so. And his eyes widen in horror._

 _Staring at him between his blood-soaked fingers is an all-too familiar face. Once that he had just pulverized. But there's just enough - those blue-eyes, a smile marred by broken teeth and blood pouring over lips, blonde-black hair soaked to her scalp even as bone peeks through. Just enough to know._

 _A broken hand with twisted fingers feebly paws at his wrist and she stares at him, eyes showing nothing but a childlike confusion. "Fa...Father…"_

 _Lyrius screams._

 _He can hear someone screaming at him and it has to be Iris. It has to be because he did it. He didn't know it was her, but he did. He didn't know. But it was him._

 _He killed their daughter._

 _He killed Lyrissa._

 _His power explodes, dark emotion given shape as it tears apart the room. Vaguely, he is aware of tears pouring down his face. But it's not important. Lyrius is already charging, sword howling with his wrath and fury. Graz'zt almost looks surprised at the raw, bleeding power a mere mortal is displaying._

 _Lyrius leaps, over the body of his child, over the thing that had been his wife and drives his blade into Graz'zt's chest so hard the hilt sinks into the demon lord's flesh. The wall behind him simply disintegrates from the might unleashed by the blow._

 _But Graz'zt smiles knowingly, patiently. "You already lost."_

 _And Lyrius knows this is true. Even as Iris and Lyrissa seize him and yank him down, clawing and screaming at him, he has no strength to resist. Their eyes condemn him for their pain, for failing them. Their lips curse his name. Hands break his flesh and bone but there isn't a heart because how could anyone who said he loved them yet killed them have a heart?_

 _And Lyrius is torn apart, scattered and falls further into darkness-_

TTTTTTT

Serenity wished Lyrius would breath.

Every instinct she had as a doctor was yelling at he that he needed immediate resuscitation, a ventilator and more.

But she had access to none of those things here in the Neo Domino Shadowchaser home. Instead, she was stuck watching him and struggling to comprehend that no, Lyrius not breathing didn't mean he was dead. It was some kind of trance. Rayearth had said that Lyrius had overexerted himself and there had been some kind of magical babble about his wife and a soul link and the end result was that Lyrius was trying to heal himself.

Trying to heal his soul.

Which Serenity could not operate on or diagnose or prescribe for.

And that left her with wishing.

She hated it.

What _was_ he? She'd patched him up several times in the last few weeks and knew he was just different. Oh, he had a heartbeat, bleed like normal, needed to eat, he'd even had the sniffles when she found him washed up on the beach to Satellite.

But he was surprisingly hard to hurt - he hadn't even suffered minor burns or cuts from having a burning bar fall on him. And when he did hurt, he healed without needing stitches or bandages; some of his scars had to have been from lethal wounds and he'd just kept going. And he didn't sleep. Which wasn't possible - sleep deprivation lead to madness and often death in just around a week and if his stories were right, Lyrius hadn't slept for _five_ years.

And now, he apparently could put himself into a trance to remove his body's need to breath.

She wasn't sure what upset her more - the fact she knew so little about her patient or the fact she was useless in the face of all that happened.

Not that she was much help to anyone right now. The Shadowchasers had tried to use their connections to get replacement for her artificial limbs, but they weren't making much headway. They had to be constructed to specification due to the complexity of the hand and Serenity's connection points were nearly two decades out of date. They had to be replaced before she could get a new arm and it was going to hard to find a good enough surgeon who would operate without asking exactly why she needed the new arm and leg.

"Assaulted by human cockroach" wasn't going to fly on the insurance paperwork.

Topped off by the fact that she was apparently listed as 'dead'.

Serenity glanced out the window at the Neo Domino skyline - all gleaming tall buildings, firm edges and artificial cleanliness. So vastly different from the Domino she remembered. Even the towering KaibaCorp Headquarters was gone. Turbo Duel Lanes were visible through the gaps and a few Sector Security were easy to spot as they patrolled the streets.

She was certainly starting to feel like a ghost.

"Hey, Red! Yo!" Rex's voice snapped her out of her daydream and she turned to see him standing in the doorway. "Sheesh, you've spent the last two days in here with him. If you keep staying in the dark, you're gonna become a fungus."

She grinned a little. "I'll become penicillin and save even more lives."

"Cute. But let's worry about your own life for a bit, yeah?" He entered the room and glanced at Lyrius, looking a little pale. "How can you stand it?"

"Stand what?"

"The chills this guy is putting off." Rex rubbed his arms. "Everytime I come in here, I get goosebumps and the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Feels like he's going to get up and stab me."

"Oh." Serenity shrugged a little. "I don't feel chills. Just...enveloped? Like a comforting presence."

Rex stared at her. "That blind woman with the nice hat told us he was giving off _killing intent_. I don't know how that's a thing, but that's not a comforting feeling."

"Please. I thought slasher movies were great comedies." Serenity grinned lopsidedly. "And I'm a doctor. I'm used to be surrounding the dead and dying."

"...you're _weird._ " Rex held up a finger. "No, wait. You're what weird finds weird."

"After what's happened recently, I think this is probably relatively normal."

"Point. Counterpoint." Rex seized her bridal-style, prompting a surprised yelp from her and her good arm clung to his neck tightly as he staggered from her weight. "Ooof. This is more awkward than I thought…"

"I'm taller than you, short person!" Serenity huffed and gave him a glare. " This is not how you treat a disabled friend! Put me down!"

"Just a sec, gotta get you outta here.." Rex winced as her head thunked into the doorframe. "Ooops."

"You are a terrible at this!" Serenity yanked off his beanie and whapped him across the face with. "Did you have a transplant with a dinosaur brain, you fossil!?"

Her further protests were cut off as he half-dropped, half-pushed her into something and she paused in mid-hit with the hat. "...a wheelchair?"

"Sure is. Shadowchasers dunno how long it's gonna be until you can get new limbs and you need some fresh air. So I asked them to grab one of these for you for the time being." Rex said, stowing his hands in his pockets with a grin. "It's even got a joystick and motor."

It did indeed. Serenity marveled a bit at the chair's newness and felt some of the enunni that had been creeping on her for the last few days recede. She smiled at her friend and threw the beanie back in his face. "Thanks, Rex. You're the best."

"'S'alright. Just watching out for you." He tugged the beanie back into place and gestured to the front door. "You wanna go see how much the city's changed?"

"Sure. Maybe we'll find something we'll recognize." Serenity nodded in agreement.

"Bitchin'. Let's go." Rex blinked as neither of them made for the door. "...what's the hold up?"

Serenity folded her arms and stuck her nose in the air. "You shanghaied me into this, Rex, you follow through with it. I want you to push me."

He groaned and pointed to himself. "C'mon, red. I am a fossil...and short! I ain't got the power to push your ass around."

"You spent the last fifteen years tossing people out of your own bar - don't you pull that nonsense with me."

He muttered a few things under his breath, but came around and grabbed the wheelchair handles. "Though doctors were supposed to be sweet and empathetic…"

"I thought I'd give being a queen a try." She pointed out the door. "Forwards, slave!"

"Yes, your highness…" Rex huffed, but started them out the door nonetheless. "Don't make a habit of it."

"No promises."

TTTTTTT

"So. Are you coherent now?"

"God dammit piece of fuck hurts so much, I'll tear his face off! I'll put spider eggs in him and watch them hatch and eat his eyeballs! I'll rip his arm off and beat him with it! Son of a bitch, this hurts so freaking much why don't you give me-"

"Ah. Still out of your mind with pain. I'll just put this back…" A bony hand replaced the gag in Weevil's mouth, thankfully silencing the wounded man's loud ramblings. "Don't worry, I'll have a replacement limb and eye for you sooner or later."

Weevil just screamed against his gag and thrashed in pain. The new arm he sprouted during the fight hadn't lasted much longer than the spirit he'd summoned and it was dangling from his shoulder. Only a few ugly yellow strands of ichor and a bit of a carapace kept it connected to his flesh.

"Look, I can't just rip that off. If I do, you're going to bleed all over everything and it's just so hard to clean up. Just endure it for awhile longer, thank you." The lich tapped a finger against its chin. "Not that you have much choice, I suppose…"

Weevil glared daggers with his one good eye, the other a mess of dead flesh, dried blood and goop.

"I _do_ apologize for sending you in there underprepared. Had I know you would be fighting Lyrius Stormcloud, I'd have come up with a better plan. As you found out, he's not to be taken lightly." The lich said sincerely. "But do try and remember that _you_ jumped the gun and went after him and the rest without so much as a thought towards an actual plan or preparation. So...we learned that we reap what we sow, yes?"

More muffled screams and curses.

"Good, good. Now please try and calm yourself a bit. I need to think." The lich began to pace a bit across the abandoned warehouse, his path random. "I have to say, Lyrius' appearance may very well be a boon. He's certainly a threat, yes, but he's a talented necromancer and blood mage. And _infused_ with that murky, black essence of the Shadow Queen...his soul would be the finest of wines."

Weevil made a noise and the lich only paid half-attention to it. "No, your soul is Kool-Aid, Weevil. The knockoff brand, not that the good stuff. At any rate, I never expected to see that man in the flesh. I worked for his wife, you know. Good woman. Talented and determined. If a bit...too Cobra Commander-y. More dead bodies in her palace than in the graveyard. Such a waste, really."

Weevil grunted out what sounded like pained question.

"Yes, right. Lyrius. He was a ghost or so the rumors said. Never saw him or encountered him. But I did learn about him. The stories and the legends and the rumors...I remember thinking how disappointing a man like him should have met such a tawdry end…" The lich paused, fingers stroking an imaginary beard - a habit that even centuries of undeath couldn't erase. "He seems weaker than he should be...but that may very well mean he's capturable. Providing, of course, we can deal with the Shadowchasers protecting him."

Weevil muttered something dark and vindictive through his gag.

"Oh, your Fusion Parasite won't be enough now. They'll be on alert for it. And if I snatch him now, that entire team of Neo Domino Shadowchasers will be after us. But, I bet they're also expecting us to try it anyway. And there's still the matter of those souls in the museum as well…" The lich's stroking of its non-existent beard grew slower, more thoughtful. "If the situation with the souls were resolved one way or another, Lyrius would have no reason to associate with the Shadowchasers and he'd go off on his own again. I know his type. All that angst means associating with other people is too much trouble."

Weevil groaned something plaintively, tears forming in his good eye and something...pus-like leaking from the other.

"Oh, fine, fine. I suppose we can spare a few hours to take care of you." It sounded like the lich would be rolling his eyes if he had them. Hauling Weevil to his feet, he half-pulled, half-dragged the human after him. "Let's go find some criminals to kill and we'll use their souls to make you feel all better."

Weevil squawked through his gag.

"I'm not removing that gag until you learn to control that plague of mouth you've got."

Weevil grumbled painfully.

"Oh, it's just an arm, Weevil. You don't need it to give yourself a leg up in the world."

Weevil groaned.

" _I_ think I'm funny. Aren't I always smiling?"

TTTTTTT

Lyrius never 'woke up', as that would have meant he needed to transition between sleeping and alertness. Rather, he was simply one or the other. Same as it when you flipped a lightswitch - it was either light or dark.

The voice that had called out to him had been that switch - he was on his feet in same span of time it took to open his eyes. In the same breath he processed that he was in an unfamiliar bedroom and its window was more crooked than it should have been, he was reaching for a weapon he did not have and he was not under attack, unless one counted his Nightmare's concerned expression as dealing with one of those blasted Care Bears from the incident in New Jersey.

It was only when he felt the cold wood of the floor against his bandaged chest that he realized the window wasn't crooked - he had merely collapsed bonelessly on the floor. His leaden body resisted his attempts to force himself to his feet and he had to push the words out over the woolly fuzz that just had to be coating his mouth. "Resonae, information…"

( _Healing, two days. Medical and magical treatment. Sleeping, two days. )_ Resonae shuffled a bit in the cramped space so she could run a smooth hoof over his back gently. _(Nightmares and screaming, two days.)_

"Could you not have woken me sooner?" Lyrius closed his eyes against memories that flooded him at the mention of his nightmare and instead focused on the hoof stroking his skin. It was impossibly smooth and improbably warm, soothing and melting away the aches and tiredness.

( _You would not listen to me.)_ The equine snorted. ( _As is the usual arrangement.)_

"Apologies."

Resonae merely grunted.

As she continued to massage him, Lyrius carefully took stock of himself. There was feeling in all his extremities, even if it was pain. He still felt the strained exhausted feeling that came from lack of sleep, but ignored it. It was a constant he could live with. "What happened to Weevil?"

( _He and his cohort are still at large.)_ Resonae whickered her tail in a gesture of frustrated amusement. ( _And you were correct, master. He tastes horrible and will require gallons of ketchup to be palatable.)_

"The Shadowchasers?"

( _The humans who dwell here are back on the island, helping Nephyire and seeing what they can do about the collection of souls in the ruins of the museum.)_

"Serenity? Rex?"

 _(Getting fresh air and exploring this city.)_ The Nightmare made a noise of dismissal in her throat. ( _It is all concrete and metal, oil and machinery. It is like any other human city. There is nothing to explore.)_

"They did live here years ago. I can imagine they would want to see how it has changed." Lyrius closed his eyes for a moment. "Are we alone?"

 _(The Incantifer waits for you, to see if you still live.)_

"I do, in a manner of speaking." Lyrius gingerly got to his feet, using Resonae's back as support to steady himself. "I will not keep her waiting."

The next two steps proved him wrong as he pitched onto his face again and Resonae nickered a laugh at him. _(Get in the bed, master. I will fetch her for you.)_

"I am only wounded, not sick." Lyrius informed her and got back to his feet. He took another step, then swore in protest as Resonae simply took a long stride forwards to leave him without her support and teetering. "Fool creature!"

( _Aye. Like my master.)_ She nudged him with a rear leg forcefully, nodding satisfactorily as he went toppling back into the bed. A golden eye fixed him with an imperious glare. ( _Stay. Rest. Heal.)_

Lyrius watched her go with a grunt of irritation and leaned back against the headboard. He was not used to being fussed over. He had only forced Resonae into submission a few weeks ago. Prior to this he had dealt with his injuries quietly by himself. Having someone care for him in this manner was both stifling and yet frustratingly...nice. Uncomfortable, he shuffled against the bed.

"I thought I heard silence coming from here."

Lyrius flinched minutely and twisted his head to see Rayearth sweeping into the room with eerie grace and silence. If she had not spoken, he might have not known she was there.

Save for the plate of food she was carrying. It was steaming and Lyrius felt his mouth water some at the scent of fried chicken, rice, lentil greens and more. She shoved a spoon into the rice and passed it to him before seating herself on the desk chair.. "Eat. We've been barely able to get you drink water over the last few days."

"Thank you." Lyrius noted with contentment that the chicken pieces were a trio of drumsticks and he tore into one eagerly. "Is there a reason for this generosity?"

"You helped us. And you need our help, too. " Rayearth informed him, crossing her legs and resting her hands in her lap. "Your friends will be glad to know you are stable."

The mention of his companions prompted Lyrius to pause between bites. "How is Rex? I know Serenity was still alive and alert during our fight. And he has survived, obviously. But were there any lasting injuries?"

"He suffered mostly exhaustion that sleep and food cured, though your doctor friend has taken him off his homemade drink. Then we drank it in front of him to enforce the order." The Incantifier chuckled. "I've never seen humans bulge their eyes that much before. All I did was down my bottle in two drinks. It was really quite stimulating."

"It would have also been used to sterilize my wounds." Lyrius reminded her.

"Ms. Wheeler did mention that she would placing a bottle in all of her first aid kits from now on. Other than that, your friends are fine. Rex has commented that 'he is too old for this shit' more than once, in between getting treated and devouring fatty foods, but he also claimed he was 'retired' and deserved what he wanted."

"If half the stories he tells are true, then he has more than suffered enough to earn a quiet life." Lyrius had polished off the drumsticks and started in on the rice. It was still warm and fluffy and he took his time savoring each slow bite.

"I must confess, if he is this talented at making homemade brew from such scare resources, I will have to come back when Satellite is connected to the Neo Domino City and his bar has access to proper supplies. The results should be astounding." Rayearth was still apparently staring at nothing, but Lyrius got the impression she was somehow still eyeing him curiously despite her blindness.

"What will you do? Now that this case has been dealt with?"

Her voice was casual, but Lyrius was no fool - the Incantifer did nothing casually. "I will let my wounds heal, assist Serenity in maintaining her home-"

"A home that is one good wolf huffing and puffing it down and will be replaced in just a few weeks time."

Lyrius tightened his grip on his fork noticeably. "She will need help preparing for her garden-"

"In the last two days they've started making offers for land in Satellite. She will get more from selling it than turning it into a garden."

"Rex is looking for a bouncer-"

"To remove customers, not frighten them away."

"To rebuild his bar-"

"Ashes are a poor construction material."

"What interest have you in my plans if you merely shoot them down for sport, Rayearth!" Lyrius snapped, fork hitting his plate with a clatter.

"I am checking to see how badly your brain suffered damage." She seemed amused by his anger. "You must have quite a bit, if you are so short-sighted you cannot see the gaping holes in your logic."

"This is not some grandiose plan. I am simply trying to live my life." Lyrius muttered darkly and grabbed his fork. His emotional outburst had soured the luxury of the rice and he swallowed his next bite thickly.

"You have to have a life to live first."

"I am here, am I not?"

"Oh yes, here. A junkyard for broken things and people, living off perhaps literal scraps of kindness from two strangers who have pity on you. And owning one of the rarest and dangerous kinds of companion animal who herself is near starving, yet frets over you like lioness over her cub. And your great repayment for all this is to let them watch as you sit, angst and brood, rotting away until calling you a husk of a human is too much to your credit." Rayearth said crisply. "What a glorious life you lead."

"If you have come only to torment me for amusement, then leave..." Lyrius growled out, eyes flashing. "You are ruining my meal."

"The truth hurts, especially when its drug out into stark light for all to see. You are wasting yourself here, Lyrius. Have you given up on your goal of rescuing your wife so easily?"

Lyrius didn't respond, pointedly stabbing his fork into the greens.

"You won't gain the strength necessary to that here. And you will cause more problems then you solve. I told you, the Knights of Domiel, the House of St. Cuthbert and more are looking for you. And given how recently the Earthbound Immortals were active nary two weeks ago, I would not put it past them to send their own agents out to investigate the incidents. And they will find their missing oathbreaker instead. And his friends who hid him from their eyes."

"My problems are my own and I deal with them as the need arises."

Rayearth barked a laugh. "Have you not heard a word I said? You are purposefully rotting here, Lyrius. You want to die, you _hope_ to die and are so beaten you won't even kill yourself. After all, why shouldn't life take away your existence? It took everything else you loved."

The plate shattered against the wall near her head, Lyrius' hand slamming into the same space a second later as he glared furiously down at her. "Leave. Or I will _not_ be responsible for the injuries you will sus-"

Rayearth's slap sent him sprawling back on the bed as she stood. He lurched back to his feet, but another hit sent him back down. Before he could rise a third time, her wand was digging into his throat painfully. "Did you see how easily I did that? I didn't even _try_."

"Why are you doing this? Why do you care!?" Lyrius hissed at her, his hand seizing the wand. But to his surprise, he could not budge it even with all his strength.

"I care because I can. I do this because you are wasting yourself. And that's a damn shame." She gave him a short jab in the throat that left him spluttering. "Weevil was a barely even a bug and he nearly killed you and your friends more than once. Five years ago, you would have crushed him without straining and now you were out of it for two days just after a little tussle."

She released him and stepped back. "And when the stronger threats come? When you find yourself fighting a competent enemy? You're just going to hurl yourself into battle and die heroically?"

He lashed out with a punch, but her wand batted it aside and she caught his throat, lifting him and pinning him to the wall hard enough to knock dust from the ceiling. "Dying like a hero only means something if your death solves the problem at hand, not leaves those in your care defenseless!"

"I never said I wanted to die, woman!" Lyrius gasped back and landed a solid kick to her stomach.

Rayearth didn't even seem to feel it. "You don't want to live, either."

"Stay out of my life!"

"You don't have one." She countered coolly. "You are so different from the man I saw five years ago I can hardly believe you and he are one and the same. But I know your kind of pain, Lyrius. The pain that cradles you like a lover, caresses you, constantly wrapping you in its embrace. It's born of failure and loss and self loathing and it's so close to you that at some point, we are more afraid of what we'd do without its touch than of its touch alone."

"There is no medicine for it…" Lyrius gasped out.

"There is. It's called 'life'." Rayearth dropped him. "Your doctor friend would be more than willing to prescribe you some."

She reached into one of her pockets and tossed a stack of Duel Monsters cards on the bed. "By the way, I took a look at those blank magic cards you've been carrying. They're tied to you specifically and they aren't actually blank. Just sealed off. I could brute force the seals off, but that would destroy them. You'll have to unlock them yourself."

"And how would I accomplish that?"

"There's a major tournament being held in Las Vegas in about a week's time. Go there, play lots of Duel Monsters."

Lyrius got to his feet carefully, glowering. "Yes, because an injured man leaving Satellite is going to have the resources to get off the island, get to the airport and fly to another country-"

"If you ask nicely, we'd willing to see if we can get permission to portal you and your friends wherever you'd like to go."

"Why do you care about about me like this?" Lyrius couldn't help groaning in pain as he straightened.

"I have a fondness for those like you. The beaten and the battered and the isolated. Reminds me of myself from a long time ago." Rayearth produced a cigar from her uniform and bit off the end. Spitting it out, she apparently glared at the cigar until the end suddenly ignited cherry red. "You have the means to do something with yourself now, Lyrius. So there aren't anymore excuses to use. It is your decision."

She doffed her hat to him and started down the hallway. "I'll see myself out. If you do manage to make an effort and decide you need your combat skills honed again, you know where to find me."

Lyrius watched her leave, Resonae curiously poking her head around the hall corner.

Sighing, he knelt and began to pick up the pieces of the plate.

OOO

The day had not gone well at all.

"Yeah, well, screw you, too!" Rex shouted over his shoulder and pushed Serenity's wheelchair with a little more force than necessary down the sidewalk. "Can't believe they won't let us into a freaking grocery store…!"

Serenity said nothing. She'd been aware of the class system that had arisen out of the aftermath of Zero Reverse - hard not to be when the fact you were stuck on the island where they dumped all the garbage. But she had thought with Yusei Fudo and his friends saving everyone from the Earthbound Immortals - nearly all of them from Satellite - the divide would have fallen some.

She had been wrong. They're little tour of the city had been nothing but one failure after another. The gleaming, best portions of the city were in the walled off 'Tops' section that they were flatly refused entry to by a rude guard and everywhere else was a few steps above Satellite in terms of quality. They'd been so excited to explore the new city and ironically, it was just like they'd never left their homes in Satellite.

But what hurt the worst was the looks, the whispered conversations and people hurrying across the street to avoid her. On Satellite, no one had really cared she had two metal limbs, only that she was a darn good doctor and she'd had some small measure of respect and standing within that little community. It'd been like that for so long she hadn't given a thought to how others would perceive her.

Here, though, she was an outcast. Something too different, too wrong to be a person. She and Rex didn't belong.

It was probably, she thought with bittersweet amusement, very close to how becoming an Aware felt. All your pretty little preconceptions shattered and the stark reality of the world that was everywhere you looked. No escape from the barrage. And she had no idea how to cope with it.

Rex, for his part, looked ready to live up to both his names and starting chowing down whoever got close enough. "Friggin idiots, the whole lot of them! Just say the word, Red and they'll get a wake-up call!"

"You sound like my brother." Serenity smiled in spite of herself as Rex's noise of consternation at the comparison, but shook her head. "Don't bother, Rex. Getting into fights isn't going to solve anything. Besides, with the shape you're in, you'd wind up in the wheelchair and I'd have to push _you_ back home."

Rex grunted an agreement and they moved further down the street in uncomfortable silence.

Serenity had known him long enough to guess what he was thinking. "Not much of a home to go back to, is there?"

"Pssh. Like I gave a damn about that bar." Rex said quickly. "It was just an empty building I picked on a whim. Easy come, easy go."

"That's not what I meant and you know it."

More silence.

"Rex Raptor, you talk to me or so help me, I'm going to back up over both of your feet and break all your toes!"

"Sheesh, doc, what happened to your bedside manner?"

She grabbed the wheelchair's joystick threateningly.

"Okay, okay!" Rex sighed, then paused for a moment to collect his thoughts. "Just...what do we do now?"

"We rebuild and move on."

"Is it worth the effort, though?" Rex asked quietly. "Everything's changed so much, Serenity. I knew there'd be a gap given how long we were on Satellite, but...we're so out of date, we're not even fossils. We're dust."

"...I've been feeling like that, too." Serenity admitted. "There's nothing for us here. Or back on Satellite."

"You have your house-clinic-thing."

"Easy come, easy go."

"Mmmph."

More trundling, more silence.

"You talk to Lyrius about going with him yet?"

"No."

"'Prolly should."

"Hard to have a discussion with an unconsciousness man."

"He won't be that way forever."

"Right." Serenity said plaintively. "I don't even know where he wants to go or what he wants do. Besides maybe try and get himself killed fighting some impossible horror."

"Not like we haven't seen that attitude before on Satellite. Or had those thoughts ourselves." Rex pointed out quietly. "And we've always managed to muddle on through, hang together, have a little hope."

Serenity knew he was right. For far too long a time, her job after Zero Reverse has been less of a doctor and more of a mortician. People dying from radiation sickness, wounds, disease...and suicide. Those had been the worst to try and fix up for a funeral. She had cried almost endlessly every time she'd had to do it, hurting at the loss of life and the fact she couldn't even make them look like people anymore.

And then the dead had gotten to the point where it was easier to cremate instead of have a burial. And somewhere along the line, those fires had dried up all her tears. And deep down, in the worst moments, she wondered who would be the one to light her own pyre. Who would have had the courage? Or the unlucky fate? Would they have even cared?

She had seen those moments in so many of her patient's eyes- the ones who didn't want to go on living and the dying who were begging to live, but knowing it was futile. She was the only one listening. And she couldn't do anything about it.

Doctors saved lives.

Doctors didn't beat death.

Ever.

Serenity found her mouth suddenly dry and she swallowed a hard lump that nearly filled her throat. She didn't cry - too much professionalism, too much resignation at hard reality.

Rex must have noticed, because his hand squeezed her shoulder tightly and she lifted her head to look into his concerned face. "Hey. Those cops gave me some pocket money. You want some ice cream?"

"Yeah...marshmallow flavor." Serenity said softly. "Large."

"You got it. Comin' right up." Rex parked her under a tree and hustled over to the ice cream vendor at the far end of the park.

Serenity watched him go and then looked down at herself. The sight of her two stumps of limb brought the memories of how she lost them to the forefront. There had been so much pain...even more blood...screams that tore her throat raw...fear that she had been sure would cause her heart to explode.

But she had survived. She had endured the pain and some days, she still did. Even now, her stumps tingled with bits of pain and missing sensation. She knew that some in her situation were driven up a wall by the phantom feelings, but she accepted it. They told her she was alive. Still here.

She let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. Did Lyrius feel like that? The hole in his heart and soul raw and itching as it tried to heal - did he do what she did and hung onto that pain, because it meant he was alive? Was it easier for him, as it had been for her decades ago, to focus on that pain to exclusion of life? Life could forget you, ignore you. Pain meant you were alive, that you were feeling something.

But it was a bad belief. Wounds were meant to heal and to stop hurting. Not so that you could get hurt again, but because they meant you had survived your pain. You had beaten it.

Serenity shook her head to clear the dark thoughts, forcing herself to focus on the fact she had sunlight on her face that _wasn't_ blocked by a cloud of pollution for the first time in years. And it was a nice, warm feeling. It, too, was a reminder that she was alive.

And because she was alive, she'd still do her calling as a doctor and help put Lyrius back together. Be a little sunshine that could peek through the clouds of his past and get him to smile a bit.

Melodramatic, perhaps, but sincere nonetheless. He'd brought some happiness to her life in his own dark, deliciously handsome way. Well, him and Resonae. The thought of the demon pony made Serenity smile a bit wider and wish a little harder for her new limbs to come. She wanted to hug that horse's neck and see what she was like at full gallop.

"Heads up." Rex swung into view, an ice-cream cone in one hand and a milkshake in the other. "They were out of marshmallow, so I got you chocolate fudge cake."

"Oh, well, thank you." Serenity took it and took a long lick. It was almost too sweet, but she savored the choclately goodness. The last bit of her dark thoughts faded away and she smiled at the memory of a few days ago.

She'd have to tell Lyrius she had been right - cake really did make everything better.

TTTTTT

Rayearth swept into the lounge, pausing only briefly to switch on the computer. A minute later, she was signed in and bringing up Skype. Another minute and she was calling home in Backwater.

It was only a few rings before someone answer. _"Backwater Shadowchasers HQ. Jalal speaking."_

Rayearth didn't so much as lift an eyebrow at the fact that the Shadowchasers leader was in her living room halfway across the world. Or at the fact he was rocking a cream and blue bathrobe with a Squirtle on it. "Hello, Jalal. Might I ask what you are doing so far from jolly old England?"

" _The usual. Making the rounds, inspection tour and all that. Not to mention for your home, I like to give a personal touch from time to time. You lot seem bound and determined to fill the book with implausible crimes and happenings."_

"As team leader, I'm flattered that you made the effort to show up in person." Rayearth said amusedly. "Was everything to your satisfaction?"

" _Quite. You all do an excellent job. I could not be more pleased."_

"I see." Rayearth's lips curled in smirk as in the background, a head of blonde mussed hair with a pair of fox ears poking free appeared from behind the couch. It shuffled about a bit and then a hand yanked a pair of Vulpix-print underwear off the arm. A second later, an actual fox with the underwear in its teeth, made a very admirable effort to stealthily make it from the couch to the hallway. "That pleased smile you have must mean you were quite...ecstatic...with the results of your visit."

" _You and your team are among the best of the best, Rayearth. I have half a mind to recommend the lot of you for commendations."_

"Some more so than others?" Rayearth asked with innocence that didn't quite reach her knowing smirk. The fox's ears twitched nervously, belly-crawling desperately to get out of camera shot.

" _Certainly so. Some of you do go out of your way to perform above and beyond the call of duty."_

"Well, when our prestigious leader makes a house call, we do our best to heed it and come." Rayearth tipped her head at the fox that was clearly trying not to be the center of attention. "Maria especially so."

 _"I don't-"_ Jalal frowned as he caught on to the hidden thread in the conversation and swore under his breath while from somewhere else in the house, laughter erupted. The fox folded its ears back and broke cover in a dead run. _"Hellfire and damnation!"_

Rayearth chuckled. "The robe was a bit too obvious a clue, Jalal. You should have just thrown your shirt back on."

" _It's a bit...shredded...at the moment. Got into issue with a patch of briar weeds."_ Jalal muttered, flush with embarrassment. But he hadn't ran the organization for a thousand years by being easily derailed and his composure came easily. " _How are things on your end? I assume this isn't strictly a social call."_

"It was, actually. But I may as well give you an update." Rayearth rolled her cigar around to the far side of her mouth, a trail of smoke arcing across her face. "The seal on the Earthbound Immortals is holding and I have strengthened the wards that the Neo Domino group put into place as well as adding my own."

" _Besides the physical damage from the Immortals, are there other side-effects? Corruptions? Disruptions?"_

"The whole area will be radiating vast amounts of necromantic energy for a long time to come, but that was to be expected. Otherwise, Neo Domino should be as safe as it was before the Immortals. Barring…" Rayearth's lips curled in a bit. "A complication."

" _What kind of complication?"_ Jalal's eyes narrowed and then widened a bit as Reasonae walked behind Rayearth grouchily. " _Was that a Nightmare...with a hammer in its mouth?"_

"She broke down the door in her eagerness to get to her master. I am having her fix it." Rayearth explained. "The complication is that the Immortals presence woke up a mummy and caused some of the souls in the area to congregate in the old Domino Museum. They are unable to move to the afterlife."

Jalal frowned, clearly not pleased with the idea. _"There aren't many priests or shamans around Neo Domino, but what there are should be able to help you."_

"The mummy itself is a priestess and has explained that the souls are...corrupted and are trapped in this plane. A ritual battle will be needed to cleanse them of the taint and allow them freedom. But there's a lich roaming around and it stole the mummy's Millennium Item."

 _The mummy's Millennium-"_ Jalal couldn't help but sigh in frustration. _"Is there anything else?"_

"We're being assisted by one Lyrius Stormcloud." Rayearth watched as Jalal's eyebrow quirked in interest. "Furthermore, he seems to have abandoned the position as the Sword of St. Cuthbert."

" _Really…"_ Jalal sounded thoughtful. " _That can't have made him a lot of friends. What's your take on the situation?"_

"It is well in hand. The lich has retreated for now and the Item has been retrieved. Lyrius has been working with a pair of Mundanes and they got caught up in the mess, but they are being tended to. It shall be a straightforwards matter to perform the ritual as the mummy desires." Rayearth took a puff on her cigar. "I will be remaining here until it is completed. I have feeling this will be a case of better safe than sorry."

 _"Quite so. Ensure that this goes down properly, then and if you can, offer the mummy our protection or at least acquire her Millennium Item. If word gets out that there's another one of those things, Neo Domino is going to be flooded with thieves or worse."_ Jalal said. _"And then see if Lyrius would not be interested helping us with Arcadia."_

"Arcadia?" Now it was Rayearth's turn to be curious. In the background, there was the sound of frustrated hammering and a whinnying noise that sounded distinctly like 'son of a bitch!'. "He wasn't interested in being recruited or helping us five years ago. Why press the issue now?"

" _We're getting reports from concerned tourists and a few researchers that have been allowed on the island about some mysterious disappearances, dark magic and strange noises from the mountain palace."_ Jalal sighed. " _The Shadow Spawn, of course, insist that the palace is locked up tight and they have it under control and refuse to allow any of our Shadowchasers or affiliates on the island."_

Rayearth smiled knowingly. "Teenagers are a stubborn bunch. Teenagers experiencing a real amount of freedom and power even more so."

" _I've argued with orcs and elves who are more levelheaded than those six."_ Jalal said with a touch of frustration. _"As it stands, Lyrius is our best source of information on the island and the contents of the palace and whatever may still be lurking around. He did live through all of it."_

"Be that as it may, he is no shape to be of any use to us." Rayearth said with quiet annoyance. Her cigar flared redder in response. "Emotional and mental turmoil rock him and his power has declined rapidly. Even he could be persuaded to return to the island, his association with the Shadow Queen would make him an instant target. And he is not capable from defending himself from that kind of threat. Himself or others."

 _"I sympathize, but the Shadow Queen's defeat means there's a bit of a power vacuum and there is a thousand years of treasures, spells and more hidden away on that island. We need to do what we can to secure or destroy it. Before the wrong hands get ahold of it."_ Jalal informed her sternly. " _Do what you can to get any assistance out of him."_

"I have already tried knocking some sense into him." Rayearth smirked. "If that does not take, I will simply endeavor to knock harder."

 _"You better not!"_ A voice interrupted and Jalal was shoved aside as a woman with veritable forest of green hair in unicorn jammies entered the picture. She fixed the Incantifer with an orange-eyed glare. _"Lyrius is fragile, Ray-ray! You don't need to break him further!"_

"Ah, Terpischore. I was hoping you'd be around. I have been away from you too long, dear."

 _"You can't butter up your wife with your sincere affection!"_ Terpischore pointed a damning finger through the screen. " _I spent a long time investing in that man and I won't have you go murdering my effort!"_

"You fought him to the point of death. Several times, if I recall…."

 _"I was his sparring partner and his cleric! You are just...well, you're just Ray-ray and I'm pretty sure the universe is scared of you on a primordial level, but still! You can't go putting too much pressure on him!"_

"I am aware, dear. He is not the first troubled, wayward soul I have encountered." Rayearth said placatingly. "All I did was encourage him to live a little."

Terpischore eyed her wife suspiciously. " _...you challenged him to a duel to the death, didn't you?"_

"I merely made a small implication."

" _Please! You get off on fighting as much as you get off on me! And considering you're halfway around the world, that isn't much right now!"_ Terpischore pouted.

"I will make time for you when I return."

 _"Jalal came halfway around the world for his lay! Why can't you!?"_ Terpischore twisted her head, presumably listening to Jalal's protest. _"Yeah yeah, you were here on 'business', boss. Try telling me that without the Pokemon robe. And Charmander was a better starter, anyway!"_

There was a an angry yip and Terpischore shrieked as Maria as a fox came flying in and landed on her face. The two grappled and fell out of shot, knocking the computer askew and leaving Rayearth with the lovely image of Jalal face-palming before the connection cut.

She regarded the screen for a few contemplative moments, puffing away on her cigar.

There was a nicker and she glanced over to see Rayearth next to her. The Nightmare waited until the Shadowchaser was looking, then dropped the hammer from her mouth. A deliberate hoofstomp broke the tool and the equine trotted over to the couch and flopped herself across its length melodramatically.

"Not my fault you don't have opposable thumbs."

TTTTTTT

"Are you sure you're all right?" Ember swept her flashlight over to Nephyire's face. "He did...you know...blow your limbs up."

"I will recuperate fully soon." The mummy's tinny voice was even farther away than normal, but her words were ringing true. Her limbs had magically regenerated and though she looked a bit withered and empty, it was still a far cry better than even just an hour so. "Returning to my sarcophagus has helped and reclaiming the Millennium Star even more."

"Yeah. That." Ember's light danced on the Item in question hanging from Nephyire's neck. "Did you make that? I thought there was only seven."

"There were only seven, yes. My Item is not a true one, but one that I crafted after researching the originals." Nephyire fingered the Star lightly. "To my eternal detriment."

"Why?" Ember asked curiously. Her teammates were scattered around the museum, taking pictures, notes and checking everything they could get their hands on to ensure it was just ordinary artifacts or the Immortals hadn't warped something. As the youngest Shadowchaser, she'd be assigned guard duty on Nephyire and the mummy's room wasn't much more than stone slabs depicting creepy monsters, the sarcophagus and a few other spooky trinkets. So very boring for a teenager.

And talking to the mummy helped distract from the fact they were underground _underwater_ and if the roof decided to give into age, they'd all be buried or drowned in a few moments. Possibly both. "We checked the Star out. It's not cursed."

"Not in the sense that you are thinking of." Nephyire explained. "However, it is something that can cause misfortune all the same. You see, the Millennium Items allowed for mortals to transgress into the territory of the gods themselves. To summon and seal _ka_ , to control and read the mind's of others, to see the flow of time and more. I crafted my Item with that in forefront of my thoughts - the power of a god."

Ember winced sympathetically. "I haven't been doing this long, but I know enough that usually never works out like anyone wants."

"Indeed. When I lived, I was a priestess of Isis and fell in love with a fellow priestess. But one day, I was charged to root out heretics that had disgraced the temple and defaced Isis' statues. So I did so, destroying the corrupt down to its roots and then destroying them so that anyone would think twice before touching them. But…" The mummy's voice grew somber. "My love paid for my efforts with her life."

"Oh."

"I was furious and sad. I had served the gods loyally and they had taken away what I treasured most. I was denied justice on her killers and denied love by her death. So I turned to ancient magic out of desperation and upon reading of the Millennium Items, knew I could make one of my own." Nephyire continued. "If the gods would not return my love, then I would go reclaim her."

Ember's jaw dropped. "You went to the afterlife?"

"Nothing as fantastic as that. No, I crafted the Star and imbued it with the ability to grant its wielder a wish. I wished to be with my love forever, to have her come back to me…" Nephyire shook her head. "And the Star did indeed recall her _ka_ to her _ba_. She breathed again...but did not know me."

Ember frowned worriedly.

"Our _ka_ eventually reincarnate upon this world after our deaths. But we are not the same person upon our return as we were when we left. So my love was not my love. And in my rage-stricken grief, I killed her. Nephyire sighed. "The gods punished me. Not only for daring to call back the dead on my authority, but for destroying the life I had wrought because of it. I was mummified alive and this mask seared to my face…"

Her fingers rose to trace the lower edge lightly. "So long as I wear this mask, I cannot leave this world. I am forever bound to my body. Only after I have repented and performed good equal to the evil I committed, will I be allowed to stand before Ma'at and let my heart be weighed."

Ember processed this slowly and glanced at the Star. "Did the gods curse the Star, too?"

"Perhaps. Or perhaps because I used the souls of the cult I had slain to forge it, their evil tainted it. You see, Weevil is not the first to have stolen the Star from me. Several times in the past it has been looted from my tomb. And always have its users met terrible ends." Nephyire murmured, her mind obviously drifting back to those encounters. "One wished for the Star to bring him wealth with gambling and it did. But his luck angered his fellows and they killed him and took his wealth back. Another wished for agelessness. And so he did not grow weak with age nor lose his youth to time. But those in his village noticed this and killed him for his apparent dark magic…"

"Wow, karma's a bitch…" Ember said quietly.

"Weevil wished for power over others and so he got it. But that power made him prideful and arrogant. And so it was short-lived." Nephyire murmured.

"Sounds like we should just destroy that thing and call it done."

"I have thought much the same in the centuries past. Indeed, with hammer and fire and metal, I have tried to wreck this accursed Item. But even reducing it to pieces does nothing. It merely appears around my neck, as whole as it ever was."

"But why? If this thing pissed off the gods, wouldn't they want to get rid of it?"

"I have prayed on this very matter for a long time. And though the gods have not seen fit to answer me directly, I have gleaned that Star itself must be redeemed. How, I do not know." Nephyire said.

"Sounds like a raw deal. But maybe we can help you with it." Ember glanced around, her flashlight following her head like a giant laser pointer. "Where are those souls? We can definitely help you purify them."

Nephyire seemed to be smiling behind her mask, though Ember did not care to think what a rotting, decayed skull looked like when it was smiling. "Your soul is aligned with Fire, child and is not suitable to help the souls overcome their taint."

"What about my teammates?" Ember waved a hand. "They're loads more experienced than I am and have probably done this before, even."

"Your leader is Wind, the metal-minded one is Water and your teacher is Earth." Nephyire shook her head. "It must be a soul of darkness and shadow and so Lyrius is the one that must perform the ritual with me."

"So it comes back to that guy…" Ember groused a little.

"Do not judge him harshly, child. He has already suffered much for what he has done in past. It is not beholden to you heap more judgement upon him."

"He's an ass! And too freaking handsome for his own good. It's like he's magical Batman. Except Bruce Wayne decided he didn't need a cape and cowl. And can do blood magic." Ember muttered darkly.

"Tell me, you judge him as you do because of his association with this Shadow Queen he served and the empire they tried to form."

"Yeah, along with consorting with demons, dealing with necromancy and resisting arrest."

"But I also tried to raise the dead and used the souls of those I slew to forge my Item. And many, many times I have simply let fools take the Star and let it run its course before attempting to retrieve it. And I, too, killed an innocent new life." Nephyire said patiently. "So with your logic, I am as evil as he. Then why, out of the two of us, am I deserving of your sympathy and help and he is not?"

Ember opened her mouth, closed it again, opened it again after a moment and then closed with a huff, folding her arms. "I saved the world a few weeks ago...and I'm still getting lectures!"

"Succeeding at a task, no matter how momentous, does not confer mastery or true understanding. Only an experience. And it will take many more of such experiences for you to truly come into your own." Nephyire said with gentle firmness. "Life is a journey, not a destination."

Ember raised an eyebrow. "...do you know what a fortune cookie is?"

"I do not."

"Huh. I guess those old sayings had more weight to them than I thought." The Shadowchaser shrugged grumpily. "I'll take it to heart, I guess. You'd know about it."

"Yes." Nepyire sait down cross-legged, head bowed and hands laced together in her lap. "Please do not disturb me. I must mediate."

"Right…" Ember nodded and the silence filled the void their talking had left with uncomfortable speed. And she tried not to think about how far underground underwater they were…

TTTTTTT

"This dime-store trinket is supposed to replace the Star?!" Weevil growled, holding up the cartouche to the lich's face. "It's a hunk of junk!"

"Hardly. And you lost the Star with your recklessness, so we'll have to make do." The lich pointed out.

"I'm beginning to think you're just keeping me around for your own amusement." Weevil snapped. He pointed at the stub of his shoulder, wrapped in clean bandages. "You killed three idiots and all you did was clean my arm! That bitch Wheeler could have done that!"

"Those souls weren't to repair your body, but you own soul, Weevil." The lich explained with a bit of strained patientance entering his voice. "Lyrius did kill that spirit you took from the museum and given how closely you were bonded to it, I'm honestly surprised that you're still alive. And coherent. Well, more so than normal, at any rate."

"Can it!" Weevil barked and glanced at the cartouche before hurling it at the lich. It bounced off the scarab-clad chest and clattered to the floor. Fuming, he stalked a short distance away and folded his arms in a pout. "You said you were going to give me power, but all you've done is use me as a guinea pig."

The lich was silent for a moment, then bent over and picked up the cartouche. Striding up behind Weevil, he put what he hoped was a comforting hand on the human's shoulder. "You're right. And I apologize. I have failed to uphold my end of the bargain."

Weevil blinked in surprise, giving the lich a sideways glare. "What's your angle, funny bone?"

"None, none!" The lich held up his free hand in a three-fingered Boy Scout's salute. "Scout's honor!"

Weevil gave him a twisted look of annoyance, then shrugged the hand off his shoulder. "Yeah right!"

"It is the truth." The lich insisted. "I promised you to give the power you wanted and I failed to deliver. Not only did I not take the time to instruct you in proper use of the Star, I failed to research our opponents and left you fighting an a enemy that I would be hesitant to engage directly."

"...so you admit it's your fault, then?" Weevil demanded after a moment's silence.

"In part, yes. You did pull a stupid stunt and attack the enemy without thinking." The lich gave a sigh that whistled through his teeth as Weevil 'harrumphed' and twisted away from skeleton. "Come now, Weevil. Be an adult about this. Didn't you agree with me that only has-beens keep harping on what might have been?"

Weevil was silent again, then grunted a reluctant, "Yeah."

"So let's move on from this. We haven't lost. We're still alive and free and that's something."

"But there's only two of us and nearly ten of them! And you said yourself that Incantifer woman alone was enough to match you! I can't fight nine other people!" Weevil insisted angrily. "Not without the Star! Without that, I don't have any power!"

"Weevil, Weevil, Weevil, the Star wasn't meant to be the end goal. Just a stepping stone. I told you before, magic itself isn't power; it is the path to _seize_ power. Why, in the right circles, magical baubles like the Star are a dime a dozen!" The lich told him soothingly. "And you may yet get it back soon."

Weevil turned to eye him with cautious interest. "Oh yeah? How?"

"By _taking_ it, Weevil. Ripping it off that mummy's neck. Because then you'll be strong enough on your _own_ that the Star will be a trophy, a sword to augment your new power and not the source of it."

"And how's that work?" Weevil seemed curious despite himself. "You gonna turn me into a pile of bones like you? Or a vampire?"

"With this, my friend." The lich held out the cartouche. "This is going to be the key to power."

Weevil frowned at him, searching that bony face for any hint of mockery or deceit. "What kind of power?"

"Raw, brute power. The kind that'll make you strong enough to do to Lyrius and his horse what they did to you. The kind to make Serenity Wheeler and those female Shadowchasers kneel before you and thank you for the privilege." The lich said strongly. "And that's just the _first_ step."

Weevil stared at him, then glanced down at the stump of his arm and his remaining one clenched into a furious fist at his side. He nodded jerkily and the lich carefully deposited the cartouche around his neck.

There a moment of silence as the lich put both hands on Weevil's shoulders and then the human stared into those hollow sockets. "So how's this work?"

"First, you need to trust me. Can you do that for me, Weevil?" The lich said gently and waited until Weevil nodded slowly. "Thank you. You won't regret it."

Then he seized Weevil's face in his hands and with a deft twist, snapped the human's neck.

TTTTTTT

 _A/N_ _: I am so happy with this chapter. Done in a single day. It was going to be filler, but I think it turned out great. As an aside, there was supposed to be a duel and Serenity and Rex were supposed to encounter Team 5Ds (Serenity having nursed their boo-boos more than once) But it was overcrowded with characters and honestly, they couldn't further the plot. So sadly, Serenity vs Jack Atlas will have to wait...possibly forever...:P_

 _Also much love and sweetness on my darling fiance and beta, Mei1105 who got the editing done for this chapter in record time! Love you, sweetpea!_

 _Next time, things come to a climax!_


	7. Ritual

Kintsugi  
By 7th Librarian

Chapter 7: Ritual

The next two days passed in relative peace and quiet. Serenity had been taken aback by the normalcy of it all. The Shadowchasers, despite their job description, needed to shop, clean and eat like everyone else. Despite their guests best efforts, the Neo Domino team had insisted that Rex and Serenity just relax and not to mind them.

Not that Serenity could really argue the point. She was missing two limbs and Rex was still cranky from their encounters with Neo Domino and its class system. Though she felt he was more hurt on her behalf than she actually was. It was sweet of her friend, though from the way he was currently gnawing on a piece of beef jerky like it was his mortal enemy, there was probably more to it than that.

She herself was just sipping on ice water. The rich food and heavy sweets from the first two days weren't sitting well with her and her doctor self was chiding her for not having the common sense to realize that after two decades of scrounging for scraps, her body was going to be thrown a curveball by eating real food. So water and soba noodles it was.

At least there was good entertainment to along with her bland lunch.

"God dam-" Ember's curse was cut short as her flight across the training mat ended with an abrupt faceplant. Rolling, the teen got her feet with an angry expression - and slammed into the floor again as Jinx plowed into her.

"Sorry." Jinx groaned and scrambled to her feet, Ember right behind her. "You okay?"

"I'll be just fine." Ember growled and darted for their opponent in a rush. "Soon as I land a hit on that smug face!"

"You all say that. So very few have ever come close." Rayearth, clad in a simple set of workout clothes, looked a lot smaller without her top hat and flamboyant ringmaster's outfit. But she still had a good head of height over Ember and her lack of sight wasn't bothering her despite facing off against two opponents at once.

She let Ember close the distance between them, the teen's rapid-fire blows failing to find any holes in the older woman's guard. Indeed, she snared Ember's wrist and with a twist of her leg, flipped the redhead over her hip like she was a coin. Ember managed to tuck into a roll as she came down and sprang back up, whirling in a side-kick aimed for Rayearth's head.

Rayearth's head twitched back, the kick sailing harmlessly past her face and then she took a single quick step, her elbow crashing down on Ember's side. The teen went sprawling face first into the mat again. "My, your training really was rushed."

The Incantifer side-stepped Jinx's attempt to punch her kidney and caught her wrist before she could retract with her right hand. She took a step back and slammed her left elbow into the blonde's face. "That would be on you, wouldn't it, Jinx?"

Jinx somehow slipped from Rayearth's grasp, suddenly in the air above her and whirling down in a bicycle kick. Rayearth threw up both arms, catching the leg between her crossed wrists. Before she could seize on the move, though, Jinx was twisting impossibly in the air and her foot slammed into Rayearth's face. The Incantifer staggered and Jinx hit the mat in a crouch, sweeping the older woman's footing out from under her.

Jink didn't skip a beat, driving a shoulder into the suspended Rayearth and slamming her against the wall. Her arms were nearly blurs as she rained blows on the Incantifer and she spun around a retaliatory blow to drive a two-handed elbow into Rayearth's throat.

Serenity spat out her water in a panic. "JINX!"

"I'm fine."

Serenity's eyes widened as Jinx suddenly went flying back across the mat, Rayearth not even breathing hard as she walked after her opponent. "That should have crushed your windpipe!"

"On a human, yes. But many Shadowkind are much more durable than the average human." The Incantifer explained as Jinx jack-knifed back to her feet. "They will survive lethal injuries like they were minor scratches. So a blow to the windpipe is an excellent way to stun them temporarily."

"Didn't work on you." Jinx pointed out with a small smile. "So it's not so excellent."

"Nonsense. If I were a species of Shadowkind that required oxygen to breath, it would have been a decisive blow. Do not sell yourself short." Rayearth countered.

She twisted a bit, Ember's sword flashing in front of her and then caught the blade between thumb and forefinger on the returning backhand slash. "And you, young lady, need to not _oversell_ yourself."

"You didn't say we couldn't use swords!"

"I didn't. And it shows good initiative that you were willing to change tactics against a superior enemy. However…" Rayearth lifted the sword above her head, Ember yelping as she was left to dangle from the hilt. "Blindly rushing an enemy who outclasses you often has painful results."

Her first slammed into Ember hard, sending the young Shadowchaser bouncing and skidding across the mat. With a growl, Ember was already jumping to her feet...only to gasp when Rayearth's arms slid around her from behind in a headlock. "You...teleported!"

"I did not say I could not do that, either." Rayearth reminded her and then everyone in the room winced as the Incanfiter suplexed Ember into the ground.

Rex stopped Ember's sword from colliding with Serenity's chair with his foot and winced. "Christ on a bike, that old lady hits like a freight train….!"

"Definitely." Serenity agreed and gave a little sigh as Ember just bounced back to her feet and charged again, firing off attacks like she hadn't just been eating mat. "Youth is wasted on the young, isn't it?"

"You're telling me." Rex folded his arms, gnawing on the last bit of his jerky. "Kid's taking hits like a champ over there."

"Yeah, but…" Serenity frowned as Rayearth flipped Ember into the mat again. "Those hits should be doing something to her. They're pretty hard blows and yet she's getting up like they were nothing. I've heard of the limitless vitality of youth...but this is pressing it."

"Not exactly." Jinx said as she approached them, toweling her face off. "Like Rayearth said, most Shadowkind are a lot tougher than any human So we train in supernatural martial arts in order to keep up with them."

"Supernatural martial arts…" Rex sounded dubious as he swallowed another piece of jerky. "Like what do they do? We talking _ki_ blasts? Flight? Golden glowing hair?"

He gawked, his hand grasping at the air where his jerky had been. On Serenity's other side, Jinx twirled it around in her fingers. "You drooled on this," she informed him.

Serenity glanced between them, a bit dumbfounded. "You...didn't move…"

"Course I did. You just didn't see it." Jinx passed the jerky back to Rex with a little smugness in her smile. "Don't worry, I use that to steal guns from people who should know better than to point them at me. Not food."

Rex nearly dropped the piece of meat. "Guns."

"Yeah." Jinx shrugged. "Magic can make you bulletproof, but it's not perfect. And removing someone's weapon is a good way to defuse the situation. By the same token, those martial arts mean we can take some hits that'd break bones on a normal person." She jerked a thumb at Ember. "We more or less beat that kind of stuff into her. But now that she can take a hit, she needs to learn how to dish one out."

They all watched Ember go flying into the wall again and then Jinx waved to the two normal humans. "Right. I'm gonna go shower and go on patrol. I'll see you all later."

"Bye." Serenity waved after her and then shared a look with Rex.

"...and I thought it was bad when the Duel Monsters started coming to life and we wound up risking our souls every other day." He muttered into his jerky. "This is just like Buenos Aires all over again. Except there isn't any coffee or that funny librarian in the ugly trenchcoat."

Serenity gave him another quizzical look and opened her mouth to question him about it, when a thought struck her. "Where's Lyrius? I thought he'd be here or even sparring."

"I dunno. Saw him walking out the door this morning. Asked us to make sure Resonae didn't cause any trouble." Rex snapped his fingers at the mention of the Nightmare. "Oh yeah."

He grabbed a couple of sticks of jerky from the pouch and chucked them over his shoulder. "Here, pony."

Resonae snatched them out of the air with her mouth and then retreated back into the ball she'd been in, chewing on her treats slowly.

Serenity stared at her. "How long has she been there?"

TTTTTTT

Ember was sore.

Physically, because spending two hours getting her ass handed to her by a witch woman meant she now had an intimate relationship with the training mat.

Emotionally, because after a hasty shower, she'd been sent to track down her least favorite person right now because her teammates were on patrol or were responding to a call.

And the damp hair sticking to her neck wasn't helping her mood, either.

Rayearth had said that Lyrius wouldn't have wandered far, some kind of magical explanation about sensing his location or whatever and so if she kept to a five block radius, she'd find him.

But when you were tired, hungry and grumpy, five blocks might as well been the world itself.

Ember's stomach gurgled in agreement with her mental protests and she resolved to at least find something to eat while she was out. This part of Neo Domino had no shortage of food stands and she was fairly close to one of her favorites. She could practically smell the sizzling beef…

Hunger spurring her on, she ducked down an alley and after a few winding turns and traffic that left her wishing she had her own D-Wheel she soon found herself at her desired destination.

"- _the world has forgotten us-"_

She skidded to a halt before rounding the corner. She knew that voice.

Ember peered around the entrance to a little alleyway. Amidst the trash, debris and dumpsters, Lyrius was standing at the far wall. Watching the hologram of his wife play.

Ember had not had the best look the first time, but now she examined the frozen image. She could see why everyone spoke of the Shadow Queen with such fear. The woman's face was cold and ruthless. But Lyrius gazed at her with such longing and devotion that the sun might have been shining from it as far as he was concerned.

 _He really is in love with her._ Ember found herself thinking. _Was in love with her._ She winced at the correction. Evil psychopath or not, she had clearly meant the world to him, and while she still could not fathom why, she wasn't completely blind. It was obvious that he was grief stricken in the same way a normal person would be.

 _Except normal people don't fall in love with evil conquerors bent on world domination_ , she found herself thinking cynically. How blind did you have to be to ignore all of that destruction...all of that slaughter? She had listened to the stories, both ancient and recent. You didn't make deals with demon lords, and lay entire countries to waste and maintain your morals. Lyrius was either stupid, or got off on that kind of suffering. In the beginning, she had assumed it was the latter, but now, looking at him, and the way he clearly longed to sit up and wrap his arms around the hologram and will it back to life...

 _Love is blind,_ she remembered reading once. Maybe she had jumped to conclusions - maybe Lyrius was just hopelessly infatuated. She could not pretend to understand what that felt like. She had never been in love before, let alone lose someone that close to her. She questioned Lyrius's judgement, but at the end of the day, maybe he was just a fool in love, and desperately missing his wife.

It didn't mean he wasn't obnoxious, socially inept and would not hesitate to kill anyone who looked at him funny.

The hologram abruptly vanished.

"There is no need to loiter," the voice was deep and thick with something Ember had not heard. Maybe this was what Lyrius sounded like when he had feelings. She stepped out of the shadows and up towards him.

"I heard she traded away her ability to love?" she found herself asking.

"Yes. For power. And to keep herself from the pain. Though...I was made an exception." He was quite, obviously having thought a lot about these things. "I thought it would be enough. It was not."

"Why?" seeing him frown, she clarified. "Why were you the exception?"

"I loved her. And she was pragmatic enough to realize that. And to know that any reward she could offer me would insult my honor and pride. After all, I won so very much of those same rewards for her in the first place. " A smiled tinged with sadness crossed his lips. "And...as I much later learned...I was the only one she was certain would never hurt her."

That gave Ember pause - she sounded almost vulnerable, when Lyrius said that. You didn't think about evil feeling doubt, or having concerns like that. In her (admittedly limited) experience, they were always righteous and sure until the end when the heroes came for them. To doubt made the Shadow Queen sound almost...human.

"Is it that much of a surprise?" He asked, startling her from her thoughts. "The story of the Shadow Queen is of someone making deals to take power from demons and bring wrath upon her enemies who slighted her. Why do you think she wanted that power in the first place?"

"Because-" Ember held back. She had used the word 'evil' so many times in the last few days that she felt it was starting to lose all meaning. But it didn't matter - Lyrius clearly knew what was on her mind.

"Evil is not as cut-and-dry as you would like to think, Ember. Iris did not wake up one day and decide that she wanted to conquer the world or bring suffering to the innocent. She was hurt and when she cried out for the pain to stop and justice to come, the Abyss answered." He just looked sad now. "And when she died, the Abyss collected its debt."

His gaze drifted to where the hologram had been, and Ember found herself at war. She really wanted to dismiss him as she had done all week, as just another villain fooling everyone into thinking that he was harmless. But when he looked so lost like that it was impossible to see him as anything but a broken man who was still mourning the death of his wife.

Except...she wasn't dead. Not really. She felt herself recoil. That had to be worse. Knowing that someone you loved wasn't dead, but was suffering at the hands of a demon lord with an unmatched capability for cruelty. Did a psychopathic queen deserve that? Did anyone?

"...have you thought about saving her?" she asked. She flinched as Lyrius gave her a look that could have felled a thousand strong men. "What? You've already proven you can do magic most of us wouldn't be able to dream of - if you really do love her, it can't be beyond your capabilities to rescue her from a demon lord."

"You have no idea of what you are talking about. An Abyssal Lord is a god unto themselves. I have learned that many times over. I have tried and I have failed." Lyrius said coldly. "It simply cannot be done."

Ember opened her mouth to protest, then thought better of her. Lyrius was right - she didn't know what she was talking about. From what little she did know, the Abyss was one of those places no one in their right mind went. Even champions of good and justice didn't go down there without actual angels and help from their deities. And Lyrius, who had none of that, had made repeated trips and survived. It was a safe bet he had a good idea of his chances or not.

Logically, she should be fine with the fact he was failing - The Shadow Queen was _evil_ and she had had the potential to be a serious threat to the whole world. Shadowchasers would stop them if he ever succeeded. But she was his _wife_ and the pain from the man in front of her was palpable. Shadowchasers were supposed to help people like him.

Unable to reconcile her current warring emotions, she changed the topic of conversation. "What were you doing out here, anyway? If you wanted to watch your...umm…hologram message thing, you've got a room in our base."

Lyrius folded his arms. "I wanted a cheeseburger from the stand around the corner, but I am not fluent enough in Japanese to complete the transaction."

Surprise won the war and repainted Ember's expression appropriately. "You want a cheeseburger…?"

"With tater tots on the side, yes."

"Given we've been feeding you like a buffet, you want this because…?"

"Comfort food."

"..." Ember nodded to herself. "Yeah, I can get that. You got money?"

Lyrius produced a handful of coins and bills.

"Right." Ember swiped the bills deftly and darted out of the alley. "C'mon. I was sent to find you and probably shouldn't let you of my sight, so we're doing lunch."

Ten minutes later, the pair was seated on a bench. Lyrius was busy piling ranch on his tater tots while Ember was taking her fries and using them to scoop away at the pile of chili centered in her to-go box.

"You ordered a chili dog, did you not?" Lyrius asked curiously and skewered a tater tot as Ember nodded around her mouthful of fries. "So where is the hot dog portion?"

Ember swallowed and grabbed some more fries with a grin. "It's there, trust me. I just asked for extra extra extra…extra, is all."

"That seems to be a disproportionate amount of food for the money you spent."

"Ehh, I stopped a smash-and-grab for the owner a few weeks ago. So he does me a favor by heaping on the good stuff." Ember swallowed another shovelful of chili-soaked fries eagerly. "Little heartburn is worth the big taste!"

"The reckless folly of youth."

"The rut of old men." Ember countered as sagely as possible around a mouthful of food and gestured with a fry at Lyrius' cheeseburger and tater tots. "You're using a fork and knife on that thing!"

"Manners are always necessary."

"Not for finger foods." Ember said sagely.

"Old habits die hard."

"Sure, sure." Ember finally managed to uncover her chili dog and plucked it free from its bed of fries. "So how's a cheeseburger your comfort food? From what I heard, you were living it up all those years ago as a king. Figured your comfort food might be some rich dessert or magic lizard steaks or...I dunno, demon beef."

"Hardly. Back then, I merely ate for sustenance, not pleasure. In regards to my current meal…" Lyrius stared at his burger as he began to carve it into smaller pieces. "After the tournament on Arcadia, I found myself in a South African forest and living off the wilderness. A group of poachers found me - they had not had any luck for over two weeks, and decided that hunting me would be an effective way to burn off their frustration. An young Incantifer named Vuyo saved me from them. It took us nearly two days to return to civilization and she spent the last of her money to buy us cheeseburgers and tater tots."

"Ooooh, that makes sense…" Ember nodded. "So it's comforting because it's the first taste of civilization."

"No, that is not correct. It is more of the kindness she showed me. Even after I told her my circumstances, she did not hold it against me. Instead, she fed me and tended to my wounds." Lyrius stared at the piece of cheeseburger speared on is fork for a moment. "This food is comforting to me because it reminds me of her smile and her gentle nature. It breathes a little hope into a weary spirit."

Again, Ember found her heart wobbling a bit. Lyrius' sentiment was a bit wordy, but it was still genuine. Attaching such sentiment to a cheeseburger of all things was not exactly the actions of someone who was selfishly evil. It was almost silly, but the way he spoke seriously about it just made it sweet.

They both ate their way for a few more bites as the teen mulled everything over again. "Hey. Lyrius."

"Yes?"

"You worked for a god of good for awhile, yeah?"

"I did, as the Sword of St. Cuthbert."

"Why'd you stop? St. Cuthbert is one of those deities whose supposed to be supernice to people in need and to be honest, from the sounds of it, you were more in need than most."

"That is true. It is a sad fact of life, Ember, that oftentimes a god's followers take it upon themselves to interpret a god's credo and words through their own filters. And many of St. Cuthbert's followers saw me as you do - evil who deserved nothing but the worst of prisons and justice." Lyrius scrapped a tater tot around to wipe up the remaining ranch. "I was not someone in need of help, I was someone not to be trusted. I left after I realized they were simply sending me on suicide missions, hoping to find one I would not return from."

"I...oh…" Ember's face fell a bit. "Wow. I didn't realize." She dropped the remainder of her chili dog into the box, her appetite suddenly gone. "I guess I sound just like them. Probably not helping. I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted." Lyrius, for his part, was unperturbed.

"Lyrius…" Ember said hesitantly, then twisted to look at him square in the eye. No mean feet, as even when he was apparently relaxed, those black eyes were as dark and cold as outer space. "I know it doesn't mean much coming from me, but...no one should want you dead like that. I don't particularly care for you, but that doesn't mean I think you should be dead. And...I don't think your wife would want that, either."

He was quiet for a few moments, then nodded before taking a bite. "You are right. She would not like that."

Ember let out a breath, obviously not used to having to struggle for words like this. "Okay, fine. I'm just gonna be straight with you. You're right, I don't know everything about you or what's going on. And it's bad of me to just give you snap judgements just because of your past. And you've been helping Rex and Serenity deal with Weevil. And you did save our butts."

She paused again, mind working for more words. "So...thank you. I mean it."

"You're welcome. And thank you for help in acquiring my meal."

"No problem."

TTTTTT

"So you found a doctor already?" Serenity frowned at Rayearth. "This soon? Limb surgery isn't exactly a common field."

"We Shadowchasers have a lot of connections and a lot of wealth to with which to open doors." Rayearth said as she sat down across from her, removing her top hat and setting it on the table next to her. "We had a bit of trouble locating a specialist, but it's all in order now. You'll have your surgery done tomorrow. When you wake up, you'll have most modern limbs money can buy."

"Tomorrow...?" Serenity gawked a bit. "And brand new limbs? You can't spend that much money on me like that!"

"Being a Shadowchaser means not only combating magical threats, but assisting those who have been harmed by such things." Rayearth said calmly. "And Weevil clearly qualifies as such."

"Still, I'm sure there are others who would benefit more from that kind of help. I can manage with a standard set of limbs-" Serenity cut off as Rayearth fixed her sightless gaze on her.

"Your humility does you credit, human, but do not let it cloud your judgement. You have suffered. Not only recently, but for the last several decades and given much help to those who have next to nothing in Satellite." Rayearth's tone was polite, but it also said she wasn't going to hear any arguments on this, either. "Accept that at least in a small way, the universe is paying you back for that."

Serenity couldn't argue against that logic, so she settled for letting out a huff and glowering a bit.

Rayearth reached into her top hat and began to pull things. Two cups and saucers, a pair of small spoons. "Besides, you will want to be as fit as possible of when you travel with Lyrius."

It took Serenity a moment to realize that she'd be addressed, so caught in the fact that Rayearth was producing a full-sized kettle from the upturned hat. "I'm not even sure where he wants to go or _if_ he wants to go."

"There's a tournament happening in Las Vegas shortly. Perhaps the two of you will travel there and simply enjoy yourselves for a while." Rayearth suggested. She produced some tea leaves from her hat, crushed them in her grip and deposited them into the kettle. A rap of her knuckles on the device let Serenity gaping openly as the sounds of it being filled with water filled the small kitchen and then little wisps of steam began to float out. "Enjoy the sights and sounds and vacation a bit."

"How-?"

"Airplane would be the best method of travel, unless you would prefer to swim." Rayearth said dryly and smiled as Serenity spluttered.

"No, I mean your hat and the tea set-up and the actual tea and-" Serenity floundered a bit.

"Magic, my dear. Incantifers are to magic as Yugi Mouto was to duelists. The best of the best." Rayearth informed her and reached into the hat yet again, the venture yielding a small plate of saran-wrapped cookies. "And Japanese blends are not to my liking, I'm afraid."

"...okay." Serenity managed a half shrug. "I've been battling in darkness games, got attacked by a giant monster and took in an ancient king as a tenant. This is just par for the course, for life behind the Veil, isn't it?"

"Hardly." Rayearth's crisp tone caused Serenity to look at her again and the Incantifer's blindness in no way lessened the intense look she was giving the human. "You are barely dipping your toes into the shallow end, human. So far, all you have experienced has been related to Duel Monsters and other things you are familiar with. But there are many, many other things in this world that lurk behind the Veil that far removed from your miniscule experiences."

Serenity shrank in on herself a bit. Rayearth's words and presence seemed to be taking up the whole room and unlike the oddly soothing chill of Lyrius' murderous intent, this felt more like a thunderstorm had taken notice of her...and was debating striking her with a lightning bolt.

"The Veil is meant for your protection and safety, not to satisfy idle curiosity. No matter what you think you understand about it, you are wrong. Your human world, your human strength, your human heart...there are things that I have seen would devour you down to the marrow of your very bones and the essence of your very soul." Rayearth's words were deadly serious. "The moment you think you are capable of challenging such things as a mere human...you have already lost."

The whistling of the kettle pierced the moment like a small explosion and it quickly vanished. Serenity released a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding and nearly flinched when the Incantifer reached towards her.

"Would you like a cookie?"

Serenity blinked once, twice and then wordlessly reached out and took a chocolate chip cookie from the plate.

"Good. They should still be fresh." Rayearth began to pour the tea carefully, but her eyes didn't leave Serenity. "Go on. Eat up, human."

The doctor did as instructed, taking a small bite from the treat. To her surprise, it was still warm and soft and even as she chewed, she could feel her spirits lift and the chill that had been causing goosebumps down her arm began to evaporate away. She quickly took another larger bite and sighed in sudden contentment that it was just as delicious as the first.

Rayearth chuckled. "My wife makes good cookies, doesn't she?"

"This is amazing!" Serenity agreed and took another bite. "Is it magic?"

"Shadowkind can take the expression 'made with love' literally if they feel up to the effort." Rayearth chuckled again at Serenity's surprised expression. "My wife feels I can be a bit too intimidating to the ordinary people I meet and so I have been given strict instructions to offer them these cookies to make up for it."

"Your wife sounds like a nice woman."

"I think she is just jealous that I give quote 'murder-feels' unquote to other people." Rayearth said with no small fondness in her voice. "It is quite endearing of her."

"Is she a Shadowchaser?"

"Oh yes. In fact, she was the one who helped Lyrius retrain his skills years ago and offered him spiritual guidance." Rayearth poured a cup of tea and placed a second cookie on the saucer before gesturing over it. The tea cup _saluted_ with its spoon and then slid it's way over in front of Serenity expectantly. "That is why it grates me so that he has degraded so far, weaker than even he was before."

"Weaker?" Serenity frowned even as she picked up the tea and took a sip. It was just the right temperature, with a mellow orange flavor. "He cut up a giant monster with a sword. Without touching it with the actual sword."

"Yes. However, he remained passed out from using that technique. Years ago, he would have destroyed that parasite and Weevil without straining. He did live in an era where there was no Duel Monsters, after all. Slaying giant monsters was the prefered pastime for men of his ilk. Yet to see him struggle so…" Rayearth took a contemplative drink of her tea. "But perhaps you will succeed in helping him heal where we could not."

"If a magic priestess and a badass witch couldn't do it…" Serenity just shook her head. "I'm just an old doctor."

"You care, Serenity. And care deeply. In a world full of giant Duel Monsters and magical powers, we forget how powerful the little things are. There is magic in kindness. More than any of us probably realize."

Serenity smiled a bit. "That seems like a very sweet thing for someone like you to say, Rayearth. Is that your wife talking?"

"No, though I have no doubt she would love to claim the credit. I am merely long-lived and have seen too much darkness, death and pain to ignore the strength it can take to be kind and caring under trying circumstances." Rayearth murmured into her tea and then reached into her hat, producing a manila folder. "Now then, speaking of traveling with Lyrius…"

Serenity snorted into her tea and erupted into giggles. Rayearth waited patiently for her to set her tea down, wipe her face and stop snickering before passing her the folder. "We've taken the liberty of setting up an identity for you and updating your travel records and passport."

"What?" Serenity frowned and opened the folder, revealing a passport, a stack of yen banded together and what looked like a profile of herself. It all looked legitimate and real and was a lot to take in, but she mentally skidded to a halt as she caught sight of the name next to her picture. "Serenity Stormcloud? Excuse me!?"

"You've been dead for nearly twenty years." Rayearth was unflustered at Serenity's shocked expression. "Just before access to Satellite was cut and it became a dumping ground, there was a list released containing the names of people who had died while there. Your name was on it."

Serenity was quiet, staring at the packet of information in front of her without really seeing it. Her remaining hand clenched into a fist. Anger welled up within her and she felt ready to explode...then she let out a sigh. "Fine. I'm dead. The government abandoned me and all the rest on Satellite, so why wouldn't they declare me dead?"

"Easier to bury embarrassing mistakes and pin the blame on them than try and fix them." Rayearth said and then gestured to the documents. "We've given you an new backstory similar to your old one and anyone who looks at the time gap is going to find that you've been living in America for since Zero Reverse. There _was_ a mass exodus after the event, after all."

"I remember hearing about it, yeah…" Serenity paged through the blue American passport briefly before setting it next to her Japanese one. "And my new husband?"

"A necessary lie. Lyrius already has several citizenships across the globe, including American. America and Japan have strong economic ties and when Zero Reverse happened, Japan entered a recession and dragged the US in with it. In response, the US tightened its immigration policies, since it couldn't help its own citizens let alone the waves of immigrants clamoring to get in. So by marrying him, you got your own without much fuss. And it was easier on our end to arrange it, as well." Rayearth took a sip of tea.

"Does he know yet?"

"No. I leave it to you break the news to him."

"Gee, thanks." Serenity rolled her eyes and went back to paging through the document. "Any other details I should know about? Do we have kids? Do we have a holiday home in France? Are we both secretly spies, but we don't know about each other until we get sent on the same mission and the resulting conflict somehow puts the spice back in our marriage?"

"You have a too honest face to be a spy, Serenity. And even Shadowchasers have limits on generosity, so no property. As for children…" Rayearth's lips quirked into a smirk. "That's up to you, now isn't it?"

Serenity redded in the cheeks, but managed to huff at the older woman across the table. "I'm a bit past the age of child-rearing, thank you. And having tiny Lyrius's running around might be more brooding angst than the world can take."

"Just a thought."

"You just live to screw with people, don't you?"

"It passes the time." Rayearth conceded with a smile. "Of which we are out of for the moment. I have to attend the museum to assist in the ritual cleansing Lyrius and Nephyire are to perform."

"So I'm just supposed to stay here?" Serenity lifted an eyebrow.

"Weevil and the lich are still out there and a wheelchair is hardly going to navigate a tunnel. Not to mention the museum is currently underground under the ocean. And out of everyone in this building, I think the quasi-dead man and myself have the best chances of surviving a cave-in. Or a flood. Or both."

"...the scary part about that line of logic is that I actually believe you."

TTTTTTT

"I never saw the point of museums," a voice commented idly in the darkness. "I mean, sure you need a place to store all your old bits and pieces, but then you invite people to just walk around and stare at them?"

"You have no appreciation for history Shichiro. Sometimes it's nice just to take a minute, look at something, and imagine all that it might have been through." Jinx said and swept her flashlight over the damaged remains of the Egyptian exhibit. "And you know, this is kind of _our_ history now...I mean, I was just a baby when happened, but my parents never really spoke about it until I grew up. Even in school, we just kinda glossed over it."

"Can't say I blame them. It was the worst man-made disaster Japan has had in a long time and with the rise of Sector Security and Tops, we all kind of just wanted to forget about it. It's human nature. Bad events like this that are kind of stark reminders nothing can be solved in a thirty-minute episode. So we just bury things…" Shichiro folded his arms and leaned back against a display case. "Case in point, Satellite."

"Is that why you spent all of last year hiding behind work to avoid your screw-up with Yusei?" Jinx asked nonchalantly, but the way Shichiro flinched meant the wound was still a bit raw.

"That...was a mistake." Shichiro told her bluntly after a moment. "Yusei had promise, but I pushed him too hard."

"Shichiro, he's a Sensitive, not an Aware. There's a reason we only take the latter group of people as Shadowchasers. If anything, the only one you pushed too hard was yourself. The only incidents we know of people becoming forcibly Aware are through extreme magical traumas. And they don't always come through it intact." Jinx trained her flashlight on him. "You know that. But you tried anyway."

"I thought…" Shichiro paused, gathering his thoughts. "I thought if you gradually increased a Sensitive's exposure to more powerful magic and undeniable events, the Veil would part for them."

"Yusei and his Signer buddies all just fought powerful giant gods who suck the souls out of people with magic dragon cards, got hit by these things and dueled in a giant racetrack in the sky shaped like an evil god. " Jinx pointed out. "You don't get much more undeniable magic events than that, but none of them ever came knocking on our door, asking why people with pointy ears were walking around."

"Then how does it happen for some and not others?" Shichiro argued. "You said it yourself - people have become Aware through extreme magical exposure."

"That's because a lot of that magical exposure is _trauma_. Pain, injuries, things so dark happened to them that their brains couldn't ignore it anymore because there was no way to rationalize all of the pain and fear they felt." Jinx pointed out. "Jalal said that there was a lot more cases of Awareness madness in Japan in first five years following Zero Reverse then there had been in the last five _centuries_."

"But our generation has also had the largest numbers of Sensitives and Awares as well. Is it because we were exposed to Zero Reverse? Or our parents were?" Shichiro pointed out. "Look at history - Zero Reverse, the World of Darkness - numbers of Awares always spiked after things like that and a lot of them were Sensitive beforehand. And the numbers of Shadowkind appearing into the world spiked even more after things like. Magical crises are growing more numerous, Jinx and more dangerous. The Shadowchasers _need_ more members."

"We can't force people to join us just because they're Aware, Shichiro. Just because they can see behind the Veil doesn't mean they're obligated to do anything but live out their lives." Jinx pointed out. "Just look at the aftermath of the whole Orichalcos thing. We got a bunch of new recruits from the survivors around the world, but how many actually stayed? The perspective shift was just too big for them to cope with. Especially after having their souls taken for years or decades, even."

"Look, Kariya was able to train a lot of Shadowchasers from those same people. And he came closer than anyone to crossing the Sensitive to Aware barrier."

"There's a reason Jalal frowns whenever he speaks about your mentor, Shichiro and that's because Kariya caused Awareness Madness in at least two people!" Jinx said sharply. "The tattooed guy has a permanent room in HQ's medical ward and the blonde bombshell just vanished off the grid and is probably dead!"

"I'm not saying his experiments were ethical or sane, especially near the end, but we need to research this. If we don't figure out what causes Awareness or increase our numbers, what do we do if the Veil finally drops?" Shichiro threw up his hands. "We were banking on five teenages who had no real idea of what they were getting into to defeat the Earthbound Immortals and that was only because destiny said so!"

"You and Kariya were always so blinded by your ambitions." A little sphere of light bobbed out of the passageway to the surface ahead of Rayearth's gravelly voice as she and Lyrius entered. "It is not about so-called 'destiny', Mister Osaka and more about that many magical things in this world have opposing forces best suited to defeating them. The Signer Dragons could destroy the Immortals physical presence in this world, far more easily and at far less cost than the open warfare we would have to wage to defeat them."

"You knew Kariya?" Jinx asked curiously, her flashlight accidentally centering on Rayearth's face.

"Someone had to ensure he paid the price for his ambitions." Rayearth smirked coldly and Jinx shuddered at the expression, thankfully switching her light off as the sphere of light grew in size and illuminated more of the room. "As for you, Mister Osaka, I understand your frustrations. But we cannot force others to walk our path simply because their convenient assets. We are guardians, not warriors."

"Funny, I heard that your group was the one who lost _three_ apprentices in one go." Shichiro barked at her. "They all just walked out you and they were fresh Awares, too. Maybe you pushed them a little too hard?"

Rayearth cocked her head at him. "Did you not just hear me, boy? I told you - we cannot make people become Shadowchasers. Being Aware is just that - being Aware. If they choose not to walk the path, then they're free to."

"Nearly every Aware becomes a Shadowchaser, though and our numbers aren't increasing." Shichiro countered. "And in case you didn't notice, my hometown was just attacked by gods and the Signers may have beaten them, but there's still only the four of us that are cleaning up that mess!"

"Ah. So you feel that if you are an Aware, you must become a Shadowchaser?" Rayearth waited until Shichiro opened his mouth, then cut him off. "Is that because 'destiny' says so?"

Jinx burst out laughing as Shichiro clamped his mouth shut with an angry huff. "Let it go, Shichiro. We'll get more help as we need it - we always do. And we've got our hands full with Ember, anyway."

"She is quite rough around the edges." Lyrius commented. "But nice enough in her own way."

"You've changed your tune." Jinx said as she took a closer look at him. "I thought you two were still pushing each other into the sandbox?" Seeing Lyrius's confused look at her metaphor, she elaborated. "Not playing nice with each other."

"We are not friends, but I feel that she has let go of her need to arrest me." Lyrius said with a small shrug.

"What about your Nightmare?" Rayearth wanted to know.

"Considering that before we left, Resonae had tried to take a bite out of her hair, claiming it was a pepper…"

Jinx sighed with a smile. "Well, at least it's never boring. C'mon, Shichiro. Let's go save Ember from the pony."

"Isn't this the same pony that treed you, too?"

"Hush. I was merely covering Ember's escape."

"You climbed the wall first." Shichiro pointed out and ducked away with a grin as his cheek earned him a half-hearted swat with Jinx's flashlight. Turning to Rayearth, he said. "You sure you don't want the two of us here to assist?"

"No. Weevil and the lich are still are large and our guests will need protection. This should just be a simple duel. If you want to watch that much, I will record it. Otherwise, spectators are best kept to a minimum for these things."

"Good point. Alright then." Shichiro nodded to her and Lyrius before pointing down a hallway that managed to survive the museum's collapse. "Nephyire said she'd be waiting down there for you. Best of luck."

"Thank you." Lyrius said and started down the hallway, Rayearth pausing to doff her hat to her fellow Shadowchasers before following.

The sphere of light floated above them, weaving and darting to avoid the bits of the ceiling that had caved in and several times, the pair found themselves splashing through puddles that were deeper than they initially appeared to be. "I am surprised this building has held together as long as it has."

"Let us hope that it lasts long enough for purposes." Lyrius said.

Rayearth scrapped a hand over the hall wall, pausing as something flaked away on her gloves. A few more wipes with her fingers revealed a silvery marbling underneath the decaying stone. "This is not a good sign…"

Lyrius mimicked her actions with his sleeve, revealing more of the substance in a few more spots along the wall. It didn't glow, but in the light from their little sphere, it almost seemed to...pulse. He frowned at it concernedly. "I have seen this before…"

"Do you know what it is?"

"Yes." Lyrius pushed past her, hastening to the end of the hallway. "Nephyire! Are you alright?"

There was only silence, creeping out across the large room along with an eerie sense of dread. The far end of this wing of the museum at one point would have been the kind of room that life-size dioramas of past life would have been displayed. Now it was a pit, the floor sloping into it akin to a drain. More of the silvery substance was spread across the floor and spider-webbed up the walls.

And in the center, growing up out of the pit was a crystal tree. It nearly brushed the top of the room, but bore no leaves and so looked barren and wicked with its too-angular branches jutting everywhere and twisting together. Swirling in and out of the knotted nest were dozens of small, firefly like lights that all seemed to be moving in some kind of rehearsed dance but the music was only something they could here.

Rayearth took in the tree and its offshoots with a long glance and then turned towards Lyrius. "What is this?"

"This is a Reaping Tree." Lyrius was staring at the tree apprehensively. "They're a power-gathering mechanism. Within a certain radius from the tree, the souls of those slain are unable to pass onto the afterlife and instead became the lights you see surrounding it. Eventually, the tree will grow powerful enough it will consume the souls and produce fruit them. Those that eat such a fruit gain great power."

"So you've encountered this before?"

"Yes. They are apparently native to Arcadia. For a time, it was a common battle strategy to plant a tree near where our next battle was going to happen and collect the souls of the fallen. Then use the fruit to strengthen our soldiers. " Lyrius said quietly. "But the tree is parasitic - those that eat its fruit have their souls bound to it as well and eventually, if it collects enough souls it will hatch..something."

"You don't know?"

"After a certain point of growth, the tree starts spawning creatures to collect souls for it and they attack any they find. We destroyed our trees once we realized what was happening. The last tree, the largest on Arcadia, had some sort of...hollow cocoon within its depths. By that time it had consumed not only thousands of souls, but the magic right out Arcadia itself. We did not know what would come of all that massed power, so Iris and I destroyed it." Lyrius caught Rayearth's arm as she produced her wand, lengthening it to staff size. "Damaging the tree will only cause it to absorb the souls it has to heal itself."

"I am aware," the Incantifer's voice was short. "Focus. There is something else in here."

Cautiously, Lyrius took a few steps to the side in a wide sweeping circle around the edge of the trees roots. He did not have to go far to find the source of their discomfort.

Nephyire was gone. The wrappings that had compromised her body were singed and scattered around, ash that might have be bone sprawled out across the floor like snow.. The cement of the walls and floor had craters and great cracks everywhere nearby, indicative of the powerful violence that had been inflicted on the mummy. And dangling from a crystal stalagtite was the mummy's insect mask, impaled dead center.

Rayearth muttered something which might have been a curse or a spell and readied her wand, other hand snapping out. Playing cards flew from her sleeve, zipping to the door and slapping into place on the frame. They all glowed and then a crimson barrier appeared over the door. "Whatever did this is still here!"

Lyrius has already unsheathed his borrowed sword and reappeared in Rayearth's shadow, back-to-back with the Incantifer. "And it has the Millennium Star - it was not among her remains."

Rayearth chomped down harder on her cigar as her sightless gaze tracked over the room. "The only way you're leaving this room is over our dead bodies. So you might as well come out now and face your death with some dignity."

The tree chose this moment to make an undignified noise - a wet slurp followed by a plop as something large, round and _soft_ dropped from a branch onto the ground. Wobbling like a sphere of jelly, it's surface had the same rainbow texture of oil, tinged with a strange darkness that seemed to swim over the surface.

A playing card hissed through the air and sliced through the fruit before it could even stop wobbling. There was a pathetic warbling cry and it melted into ooze.

Lyrius tensed slightly. "The fruit should not look like that - it should be clear and it most certainly doesn't have anything inside of it."

"Given all the dark magic on this island recently, I'm not surprised it's corrupted in someway." Rayearth produced another handful of playing cards with a flick of her wrist. "I am not capable of purging the darkness from the souls and releasing them. You were the Sword of St. Cuthbert, can you?"

"It was a title, not a position. I had no extra abilities or divine magic. They thought I was unworthy." Lyrius informed her and glanced down at the pit surrounding the tree where several of the fruit had fallen and left behind only oily, dessicated skins. "Several of them already hatched. Where are they?"

"Perhaps Nephyire killed them before they got loose."

"Then what killed Nephyire?" Lyrius glanced towards the mummy's remains to see if he had missed a clue. And narrowed his eyes as he watched a droplet of something roll down the mummy's mask.

And a fresh one joined it.

"It's above us!" Lyrius shoved Rayearth away, vanishing into his shadow and reappearing a good distance away even as something crashed down where they had been standing. Stone hissed and popped as garish green venom dripped from its mandibles. It looked like at one point it had been a scorpion - twin pincers snapped at them both even as they darted out of range.

But it had no flesh, just bone and Lyrius felt disgust lurch in him as he realized that the bones were all human. A ribcage reverse made up scuttling legs and arms and leg bones literally held the thing together, the tail several spines fused together and laughter filled the air as the skull at the end cackled. "What on earth…!?"

"I don't know how, but this has to be Weevil's creation." Rayearth returned and whipped a handful of playing cards at the thing. They didn't do much, either bouncing off the bones or simply lodging in them slightly. But they did get the creature's attention and it scuttled towards her, pincers snapping at her like a boxer volleying off punches. Her wand staff deflected each one, the Incantifer's inhuman strength meaning neither of them were giving ground.

Lyrius appeared in the thing's shadow, sword slashing at the tail...and bouncing off. He barely had time to prepare for a second swing when the tail coiled backwards, the skull laughing at him upside down before spewing out a wave of fire. He threw himself backwards, swearing and cursing as the flames still swallowed him.

The tail whipped back around, forcing Rayearth to shield her face from the flames and leaving an opening for a pincer to slash through her waist. But the Shadowchaser just chuckled even as the two pieces of her drifted apart before erupting into a swarm of crows that scattered everywhere.

Lyrius vanished into darkness again, the act smothering the flames eating him. He appeared along the chamber's far wall, wisps of smoke pouring from him and just in time for the scorpion to _spit_ a stream of acid at him. His sword came up on reflex, the stream splashing off the flat of the blade and he flinched away from the spray as droplet sizzled against his skin and clothing.

Darkness wreathed his weapon and he slashed upwards. " _Mugetsu!"_

The attack carved a trench into the ground as it slammed into the scorpion monster, shoving it backwards and flipping it over. But it did no lasting damage, an ugly noise of clacking and cracking bones sounding as it just self-righted by turning itself inside out.

"You see what I meant about you being weaker than normal?" One of the crows alighted to Lyrius' shoulder as the rest swarmed the monster, screeching and pecking at it. The skull-tail swept lines of flame after them, but they were too nimble and many to be affected for long.

"You have not slain the monster, either." Lyrius ground out defensively as he readied his sword again.

"Most of what I could do to it would bring the cavern down atop us or damage the tree and the souls." Rayearth informed him, watching as one of her crow bodies vanished in a bloody mess of feathers and flesh as acid splashed into it. "I'm not even sure if it's truly an undead, given how it's spitting acid at us. Though that just raises further questions how it's actually capable of doing that…"

"We can autopsy it later - I'll even let you make the first incision." Lyrius said curtly. "For now I am far more concerned with how we actually kill it."

Over the scuttling sounds of the scorpion, another cocoon plopped loudly to the floor and began to ooze over the stone. The tree seemed to be pulsing in delight, as another scorpion dropped down from the branches above. It snapped at the first one a few times before they both focused on their prey.

"It has a friend," there was something sinister in Rayearth's delighted voice. "How quaint."

"What are they even doing here? The trees mutate known animals, not craft new ones." Lyrius leapt aside as one of the scorpions lunged at him, his sword deflecting the stinger and its wave of flames before a teleport put him out of range as acid hissed through the air. He reappeared on the chamber's far wall.

"If I had to wager a guess, it would be that whatever these trees produce is close to hatching and is trying to defend itself." The crows flocked together, reforming back into the Incantifer. "Get into the tree and see if you can't extract this cocoon you mentioned. The tree will heal itself, but at least we'll be rid of the major threat. "

"Can you fight these things alone?"

"Better than you could. Go!" Rayearth wasted no more time, sprinting for both creatures and unleashing her wand staff. She snapped out a wrist, streamers flying from it and entangling themselves in one of the scorpion's skeleton bodies. It hissed and thrashed, rolling helplessly as its brethren came under assault from her whirlwind staff blows.

Lyrius hesitated for a split second, then teleported over to one of the low-hanging branches in a burst of darkness. Despite his weight, the slender crystal did not even so much as budge as he darted up into the nest entangling the top of the truck. Progress was slower than he would have liked, having to teleport several times or twist and turn to avoid the jagged branches. But the tree knew he was there, the branches swelling and twining to bar his path and reaching for him, tearing up nicks and cuts on his clothes and flesh.

The center of the tree was like a twisted nest, an open space barely big enough for him. He could barely see the chamber through the branches, but the hisses of frustration and the sound of stone-shattering blows hitting things meant Rayearth was still fighting.

The cocoon worried him. It was nearly as large the trunk and Lyrius could see something straining at it its walls weakly. Rayearth had been right. It was close to hatching. He reversed his grip on his sword and carefully slid it into the crystal, sawing slowly in a rough circle. The crystal plug over the cocoon was too thick to just stab into the object, but if he could remove enough of it, a _Mugetsu_ into the cocoon itself would destroy its occupant and -

Pain exploded through him and he belatedly realized that it was because a curved blade had punctured his chest from behind. Blood sprayed as it was yanked back and then a powerful, clawed grip seized the back of his head and smashed his face brutally against the crystal branches. Once, twice, three times and they shattered. It was like glass digging into his flesh as the attacker hurled Lyrius away like a ragdoll into the chamber wall.

Stone, crystal and blood dribbled down his face as he forced himself back to his feet, sword at the ready. His face twisted in disgusted surprise as he realized who his attacker was. "Weevil!"

"In the new flesh!" The bug duelist's all-too familiar nasal cackle filled the air as he shouldered his way through the hole in the branches and dropped down. He flexed his arms, curved blades unsheathing themselves from his forearms noiselessly. "Whaddya think? Definitely a vast improvement, right?"

It was more like a complete makeover. Weevil's blue hair was now soft and moth-like, resembling more of a pair of antennae smoothed back on his head than actual hair. His eyes were larger than normal, glowing pale orange in the chamber's dim light and a smile revealed fangs instead of teeth. Blue lines stood out starkly against his ashen skin, arcing over both eyes and down his cheekbones and neck, vanishing into his collar. Black clothes were covered in alternate orange markings, perfectly parallel to one another. The Millenium Star dangled from his neck. All of them glowed softly with magic.

Darkness wreathed Lyrius' weapon and he snapped it down in front of him. _"Mugetsu!"_

Weevil watched the attack approach and crossed his stingers in front of him. The darkness hit and he staggered from the force. Then he gave a grunt of exertion and snapped out his arms, the attack scattering into mist. "Oh yeah, definitely an improvement!"

He shot forwards at inhumane speeds, Lyrius sword rising to intercept the stingers. But his chest wound slowed him and while the first was parried, the second pierced his shoulder, lifting him off the ground and pinning him to the wall. Weevil laughed again. "Hurts, doesn't it?"

Lyrius' sword arm rose impossibly fast, but he grunted in pain as the other stinger stabbed through his wrist. His sword clattered to the ground and all he could do was glare as Weevil sneered up at him. And felt his heart lurch in suddenly realization when he saw the small necklace dangling around Weevil's neck. "A cartouche…"

"Oh yeah. My lich friend told me how when you wear one of these things and die, your soul stays here with the tree. You and that mummy were going to purge the souls of darkness, but we figured I could just take the entire thing over. And we were right." Weevil twisted the stinger in Lyrius' shoulder sharply, uncaring as blood splattered across his face.

"The cocoon…"

"Was for me. A little magic mumbo-jumbo and I was able to retain my sense of self and take over the tree. I hatched a day ago. But I knew if I just went out and attacked you lot, I'd get stomped on again. So I figured you'd come here to me and lo and behold, you all did!" Weevil sneered. "Your mummy friend put a better fight than you did, but she wasn't that hard to beat. In fact, her bones made another one of my new pets!"

"Bastard…!" Darkness surged through Lyrius, his hair slipping from individual strands into a single seething mass. He vanished into his own shadow and reappeared behind Weevil, slamming the smaller man's head into the wall so hard the stone caved in. "You will not be leaving here alive!"

Weevil struggled and growled. "Don't bet on it, idiot!" Impossibly, his arms twisted to stab behind his back in a way no human should been able to, Lyrius throwing himself backwards to avoid the stingers carving new holes in his face. Whirling, Weevil charged him and body-checked him into the base of the tree.

Lyrius vanished out of the way of a second charge, foot snaring Weevil's feet and sending him tumbling. But Weevil's stingers retracted reflexively as he caught his fall on his hands, handspringing into the air as Lyrius' follow-up kick scythed for his head and instead gouged a line out of the trunk. Twisting, Weevil came down like a tornado as his stingers shot out, Lyrius' dodge too slow and blood exploding from the wounds scored across his chest.

The smaller man lunged in close for a follow-up, but Lyrius caught his wrists and the two strained against one another before Lyrius vanished. Weevil stumbled forwards, leaving him open as Lyrius reappeared and slammed an elbow into the back of his neck, a kick punting Weevil into the wall.

"Ugh.." Weevil pulled himself free of the wall, shaking his head and got his feet. "Christ, you're fucking stubborn…"

He squared off with Lyrius, grinning wickedly at how hard the other man was breathing and the blood soaking the ground beneath him. "But you're more than half-dead already! And you want to know what else I learned? I can do this!"

He snapped out his hand and Lyrius braced himself for an attack. Except one never came, violent black flames erupting beneath him in a torrent. He howled in agony, the flames swallowing him up. Then they faded and he felt his legs crumple, black mist pouring from his body. "Flames...from the Netherworld…"

"That's right! Didn't you see my new body art?" Weevil jerked a thumb at the glowing tattoos on his face. "The King of the Netherworld died in the waters above here and this tree sucked up some of the goop! So I've got magic powers over darkness and given you're not quite human, things that attack someone's spirit hurt like a bitch for you!"

He held out his hand and the flames ignited, Lyrius screams of pain only being silenced as Weevil punched him away. Lyrius groaned, lurched back to his feet...and then was floored as Weevil nailed him again. Blood and darkness were streaming out of his wounds and with them, his strength.

Weevil cackled and rolled Lyrius over with his foot, merely grinning down as Lyrius' glared daggers at him. "You know, this whole situation right now reminds me of something you said the last two times we fought."

Lyrius gasped in pain as the stingers hooked his armpits and hoisted him into the air, leaving him dangling while Weevil just leered up at him. "Those who play at dark powers will be consumed by powers darker than themselves."

Weevil bared his new fangs, his expression inhumanely hungry. "And I'm just famished!"

Lyrius screamed as the fangs sank into his flesh.

Weevil pulled his mouth free and then spat the hunk he had taken with him, the flesh sizzling and smoking. "Bleagh, you taste terrible…!"

He grinned again and licked the blood of his lips. "Still...beggars can't be choosers."

A playing card lodged itself in his forehead, snapping his head back and leaving him looking cross-eyed at it. "What?"

A flurry of more cards slammed into his body and threw him backwards in a heap before they all glowed and exploded violently, Weevil's howl of surprise rapidly morphing to one of pain.

"What a curious little bug he's become." Rayearth said with genuine, malevolent interest she walked up to where Lyrius lay. "Do you think he's any harder to kill than his pets?" She brushed some smoldering fragments of bone off her shoulder.

Lyrius' response was to gurgle in bloody pain and she rapped her wand against the ground. A seal slid into place underneath him and glowed slightly. "Try not to move. That should stop you from bleeding out and put you back together enough we can make it home."

A round of hacking and spluttering drew her attention back to the cloud of debris that was hiding Weevil. "Come out, little bug, so I can squash you."

"B...bitch…" The cloud cleared, revealing Weevil bleeding heavily from numerous wounds all over his body. He clenched a fist and raised it, uncaring as the movement caused fresh blood to spray free. "I'll...I'll...kill you…"

"Unlikely." Rayearth watched as the stinger suddenly cracked and snapped off weakly. She tensed and moved protectively in front of Lyrius as the Reaping Tree suddenly began to glow, the souls' dance growing more and more agitated. "What?"

The souls suddenly jerked free of the tree, flying over to Weevil and sinking into his body. A ugly, garish blue glow surrounded him as his wounds began to knit. His stinger also returned and he ground them against one another so hard they sparked. "You think I'd just roll over and die that easily!?"

"If you wish to exercise in stupidity, then be my guest." Rayearth produced another fan of playing cards in her free hand. "You should have just stayed dead."

"What have you done with my tree?" The voice was frigidly cold and imposing, sounding all too used to having every question answered immediately.

Weevil frowned and glanced towards the entrance where a tall, regal woman was standing. Dressed in dark clothing with floor-length blonde hair and a silver tiara, she nearly blended into the surrounding shadows. "The hell is this supposed to be?"

"My Reaping Tree." The woman ignored Weevil's question, striding forwards to regard the crystal plant. She reached out and touched it, the crystal and souls almost humming in response. "How could this have happened?"

"Hey! I'm talking to you!" Weevil snapped and pointed a stinger at the woman. "Who the hell are you?"

When he got no response, he snarled and the Star hanging on his chest flashed. Golden light shot towards her violently. "Answer me!"

The woman's shadow ripped itself free of the ground, swirling around her and dissipating the golden light before it could reach her. She cocked her head at him, as if noticing he was there for the first time. "So you are the one who took the tree's power."

"First come, first serve, bitch!" Weevil growled out and launched himself at the woman as fast as he could. "So you get the first serving of pain!"

But even as he leapt through the air to skewer her, her shadow sprang to life again and snared him before his stingers could reach. "Wha-"

The woman stared at him, a frown marring her perfect features. "All this time gathering power and it is just wasted on a weak specimen such as yourself."

Weevil gawked at her. "Your eyes…"

They were black and gray clouds, storming and stirring inhumanly. "Are just that. My eyes." Her head dipped downwards as she caught sight of the Millenium Star hanging from Weevil's chest. "What is this? A Millennium Item?"

"I'm going to ask you step away from the tree and the weakling there." Rayearth said coolly and took a few steps forwards. "And kindly explain who you are."

The woman ignored her a moment, having tugged the Star free for Weevil and critically examining it. Then she answered Rayearth's query. "I am the Shadow Queen."

"Is that so." Rayearth's lips curled in a smirk. "Hard to believe that you are really here, since last that I knew of, you were trapped the in Abyss for eternal torment."

"Then you were deceived." The Shadow Queen declared bluntly.

"I doubt that, considering the source of information was your own beloved husband."

The Shadow Queen paused, then lowered the Star from where she had been holding it up. She turned to face Rayearth fully, spotting Lyrius behind her. "The Queen's Shadow?"

Rayearth whirled as the sound of blood spurting filled the air and she gaped as she saw a single point of shadow piercing Lyrius' chest from the ground, the man twitching and gasping as his blood dripped from the magical weapon back onto his face.

"I have no need of such a weakling." The Shadow Queen was nonplussed as Rayearth snapped back to face her. "Let his death be as your own."

She touched the tree and with a great, thunderous roar, the trunk exploded away from her. Thousands of fragments littered the air like glittering snow and almost in slow motion, the branches crumbled away. The ceiling shook, trembled and with a heavy groan like some great beast awakening, began to tumble down.

"Insignificant."

She vanished in a burst of shadows and then the world was swallowed up by stone and blackness.

TTTTTTT

 _A/N:_ _Yay! I got this done! Finally! Took me forever...I hope the surprise was worth it!_

 _As always, this chapter had a couple of rewrites. Originally, it was just a duel and the ritual to purge the souls, but I felt that wasn't interesting and would have almost been dull compared to the pacing of the other chapters. Expect chapter 8 out later this week and in there, our time on Satellite wraps up and our characters start exploring the wider world out there. And secrets...and dangers...are out there…_

 _Mei: Oh bless him. He thinks he'll get the next chapter out in a week. Isn't that what you said about this one, fiance-cat?_

 _It will happen! I have spoken! It will be in existence on Friday!_


	8. Exit

Kintsugi  
By 7th Librarian

Chapter 8: Exit

"Where are they!?" Jinx leaned more heavily on her D-Wheel, nearly pushing the vehicle into the water below the dock. "Shichiro!"

 _"We can't pinpoint their location any closer! According to her teammates, Rayearth's tracker is suffering interference from the water, rubble and magic in the area!"_ Shichiro's voice said from the bike's speaker. " _But they all assured me that this wasn't going to kill her and she'd be coming soon!"_

"They've been under there for nearly two hours! It'd take took long to clear the rubble from the museum!"

" _We're doing the best we can! It's not like we can just get our hands on a bulldozer or submarine!"_

"We can dive, can't we?"

" _We've already put in a call to the kappa and sirens in the area for their help! Humans just can't stand the pressure down that far and certainly can't see at the bottom of the ocean!"_

"It's taking too long. I don't care how -" Jinx broke off. "How - "

A line of tied handkerchiefs had broken the surface of the water and lashed around a mooring post. With a sharp tug to confirm it was secure, the line went taut.

Water erupted skywards as Rayearth burst free of the ocean, the Incantifer landing a few yards away from Jinx's location. She was soaking wet, her ringmaster's uniform torn and fraying everywhere. But not an iron-gray curl was out of place and she flipped her hat to dump a surprising amount of water from it. "Ah, Jinx. Good to see you."

Thwapping her hat a few times, Rayearth nodded approvingly and Jinx gawked as an unconscious Lyrius came tumbling out of the headwear and sprawled ungracefully on the concrete. He was remarkably dry and bandages swathed most of his exposed flesh. "How-"

"I'm an Incantifer. I don't need to breathe oxygen. Thankfully, neither does he." Rayearth twirled her hat back onto her head. "Now then, if you'd be so kind as to help me, we can get man to proper medical care."

"Right!" Jinx snapped out of her surprise and scurried over to grab Lyrius' legs.

TTTTTT

Long walks were always good for clearing one's mind. The more isolated and quiet, the better.

And one could not get anymore isolated and quiet than the bottom of the ocean.

The lich plodded along the rocky, uneven surface of what he assumed had once been a skyscraper. The building had caved in on itself several times, the glass shattered and the walls torn and shredded, the exposed framework bleached like bones. Like some titanic predator that met a savage end at the claws of a bigger predator in Zero Reverse, the whole structure sprawled across the ocean floor as mute testament to the the supposed invincible human spirit undone by nature's raw fury.

Which was true, the lich mused. That nine-to-five grind could be quite the hazard.

Eventually, the lich found what he was looking for. The sunken pit that had once been the buried Domino Museum. Stroking his chin in thought as he stared the mess, the lich didn't care as a few brave fish darted in and out of his ribcage.

He stepped out towards the center and planted a hand on the stone. His fingers glowed white softly, the magic arcing down and around the zone into the cracks with a life of its own. The stone cracked and split. He nodded in satisfaction before pulling his hand away; ice chips scattering into the ocean currents like a small tornado.

He waited for a few more minutes and then gestured. The rubble shuddered and shifted, smaller chunks drifting free as the larger ones rocked and shuffled. Eventually, they were shouldered loose as a large block of ice erupted upwards. Contained inside was a petulant Weevil. His eye was swollen shut and tattered clothing was stained with blood and ichor.

The lich cocked his head and rapped on the ice. It bobbed and Weevil stumbled, bracing himself against the walls before glaring daggers at his savior.

The lich waved.

Weevil took a sharp swing at him. But slippery ice and being underwater meant all it did was cause him to lose his balance. He smashed his face into the ice as the block began to tumble end over end slowly.

The lich's shoulders shook with silent laughter as he reached out. A length of magic extended from his hand, black and solid despite ocean current and wound itself around the ice block. A sharp tug caused it to glow and then fade into a thick, heavy chain. With Weevil still upside and fuming, he began the long trek back to shore.

TTTTTTT

 _Lyrius is broken._

 _Even the in the depths of his soul, he cannot escape this truth._

 _The bookshelves were definitely dead, the piles of their wooden frames nearly lost in the pools their literary guts were making. Canvas flesh hung in strips from exposed wooden bones that still managed to cling to the wall. A nearby easel looked to be the first victim, canvas shredded while paints and pencils were strewn over it._

 _The desk, perhaps bemoaning the fate of the rest of the room, had come apart and piled into the fireplace in an apparent suicide attempt. For the fireplace had nothing in it but the desk and the chimney was just a pile of loose brick._

 _There's a stained-glass window depicting their wedding. They are facing one another, hands clasped together around a bouquet of black and violet irises. The island of Arcadia dominates the background, the floating city of Glitzville slowly emerging around the mountain, the great tree peeking above the tops of the forest and the door to the Palace of Shadow. In the foreground, the individual strands of Iris' hair, the gleam of light off her jewelry, the seams of her dress are lovingly detailed._

 _Lyrius sits among its pieces, bathed in the light spilling forth from behind it. The light is bleak and harsh._

 _It is a very cold light. The kind of cold that comes from knowing you cannot hide from the truth._

 _That truth is reflected in the broken pieces of his happiness and it peels back the safe darkness of his little room swathed in past regret, one that tears away the shroud of pain and misery he cloaks himself in._

 _He is nothing without her._

 _Everything he has ever done, everything he has endured, has always been for her. He had always come from her. She had given him power. Purpose. Even the very name by which he calls himself. And he had taken those things and lead her armies and slew her enemies and carved a kingdom for her._

 _For her._

 _Even after her death, he swore to storm the Abyss and save her. He had sworn it the moment he realized she was there._

 _There is nothing to show for it._

 _He knows, rationally, the Shadow Queen he encountered in the museum is not her. He knows, rationally, that her dismissal and attempted murder are not the actions of his wife. He knows, rationally, that she is still waiting for him to go to the Abyss and save her._

 _He knows, emotionally, he does not care._

 _There is not even strength in him for tears._

 _Lyrius Stormcloud is broken._

 _He has given everything to her. To his Queen. His life, his soul, his heart. Every breath in his body, every beat of his heart, every prayer from his lips. And he has been found wanting._

 _There is nothing else for him to give._

 _Oblivion clattered to the ground in front of him. The sword's blade was flawless it looked as cold and jagged in the harsh light as ice._

 _Lyrius looked up._

 _Iris was in front of him. The same wicked grin that always lit up her face. Same proud lift to her chin, cascading silk, towering crown. Like he remembered._

 _He didn't remember the mocking, twisted look in her eyes._

 _Or_

 _Had it always been there? And he had chosen not to see it._

"Take up your sword." The words were soft.

 _He grabbed the hilt in one hand. It had been his prized weapon once, crafted out of their own blood and magic. It had fitted securely in his palm, easy to heft. Now the hilt was cold and ungainly, the sword weighing so much the weapon had to be rejecting him._

" _Put it to your neck."_

 _The blade was cold against the thin skin of his throat. It shook with every jackrabbit beat of his heart. He had cut a thousand throats in his lifetime. Good men, bad men, sinners, saints. On the battlefield. On their knees. His face the last they ever saw. It was nothing. Easy. Sharp sword and pressure._

 _There is a lot of blood in a person._

 _Mouth dry, he swallowed. The blade bit. A drop of blood dribbled down._

" _Look at me."_

 _Lyrius lifted his eyes at his Queen. Her smile was cruel and sadistic. There was no love there for him, only the power she held over him._

 _Had she truly loved that instead of him?_

"Do you love me, Lyrius Stormcloud?"

 _He knew the answer."Yes."_

 _The Shadow Queen caressed his cheek. "Then die for me."_

 _Lyrius tightened his grip on the sword and the blade sank into his flesh._

 _He stared into her eyes. "I love you."_

 _Her smile was void of anything but cruel delight. "I know."_

(Lyrius.)

 _Hot blood splashed across Lyrius' face and pain erupted from his neck_

(Lyrius!)

 _The blade cleaved through his flesh and the pain was unbearable, but he kept pushing._

(LYRIUS!)

TTTTTT

The sweat-soaked sheets were suffocating as Lyrius shot awake. He didn't even bother to tear them off, teleporting out of the bed in a burst of shadows. He reappeared across from the window, slumping down the wall noiselessly.

It had been just a dream. Another dream. It wasn't real.

That didn't stop his hand from rising to his neck to check for blood.

He wasn't sure if he felt relieved to find his skin unmarred

He drew up his legs and crossed his arms over his knees, trying to calm himself. They were just dreams. They weren't real. Iris was still in the Abyss. He could still save her.

No, he couldn't. Wasn't that why he was in Satellite? Wasn't that why he was so weak and fallen so low?

He had given up.

He deserved to perish.

Lyrius' legs twitched. Only it wasn't his legs. It was his hands trembling in uncertainty and fear. He clenched them tightly. Mercifully, after long minutes of knuckle-whitening squeezing until his palms hurt, they stopped.

He bowed his head, dark hair spilling over his shoulders to cover his face like a shroud. What was wrong with him? How could he be so weak?

The darkness had no answers.

A soft chime rang through the air, almost unnoticeable over his harsh breathing. Soft, warm light flitted over his head, prompting him to lift it. Just in time to see a glowing, pearly white month flit in front of him. It was spreading small glowing sparkles with every beat of its wings and they seemed to be filling the room with comforting tenderness. The moth danced in front of him a little longer, then suddenly zipped away.

It alighted on an outstretched finger, falling eerily still. But the glow surrounding it swelled, revealing a Cheshire Cat grin. Though far more unnerving given the genuine warmth and playful affection in her expression. "Hello again, Lyrius."

"Eilistraee." Lyrius could not help but be drawn to look at her. This goddess — for there was the unmistakable feeling that what he was seeing of her was so much less than what she really was — was alluring in the way a naked blade was. All sharp edges softened with ageless youth and tempered with the wisdom of age. Her eyes glinted in the moth's light, the only stars in the otherwise blank canvas of her dark skin. Hair of frosted silver flowed over her body like a cloak.

He closed his eyes and leaned back against the wall. "Leave me."

"I did the last time you requested it. Five years ago. Look where you are now."

"Then tell me why you are here. Then leave."

"For you," she answered simply. Her gaze was gentle and compassionate, and Lyrius could not bear to look at it, his own eyes darting away to a corner of the room. Could not bear to see his own pained expression in her eyes.

"Congratulations. I am here. You may go now."

"I do not wish to."

"I do not want you here. I have had my fill of divine intervention."

"Do you truly not want me here because you do not care for me? Or do you not want me here because the help I offer is frightening? That there might be a world that exists outside your hurt and misery?" Eilistraee's tone was strong, but gentle.

Lyrius did not answer. She watched him patiently.

It was a childish thing, to think that if you didn't speak something, it would not be true. Lyrius didn't want to give voice to what they both already knew. It was already true enough.

"Why do you care anything about me? I am no Shadowkind or worshiper. I am not even a drow."

"My help extends to any who seek redemption or a better life. Not just the drow."

"There is no better life for me."

"Only because you do not want to believe there could be one."

"Yes, because truly saving my wife from the Abyss will make all of my problems go away!" Lyrius snapped. "Once that is completed, Graz'zt will most certainly not hound us for eternity for escaping him and the legions of the good and holy will not camp at my door waiting for an excuse to destroy the wicked Shadow Queen? We most certainly will have peace and quiet and privacy because escaping the Abyss and saving evil is a common occurrence! And Iris will be so happy and pleased to be rescued that the torment will never hound her and she will sleep the sleep of angels! And Lyrissa will magically come back from the dead because some god took pity on us and will forgive me for killing her! Surely a father can move past that little fact if some _god_ allows it to be so!"

It wasn't until he saw that Eilistraee was looking _up_ at him that it clicked in Lyrius' head he had, at some point, stood during his little tirade and was looming over her. Hands digging at the arms of the chair. The silence was deafening.

It wasn't until she reached up and her willowy fingers slid gently along his cheek that he finally the felt the tears he hadn't known that he'd been crying.

She didn't say anything, just wiped away at his tears until they stopped. She didn't break eye contact, those calm blue eyes simply telling him that she understood.

Some part of him felt that her kindness was horribly unfair. For a goddess to take such pity on a mere mortal was disgraceful. He did not want it, but she gave it anyway. His pride snarled in the back of his head she was merely pitying him for the sake of pity and he should just dismiss her.

Lyrius was too tired to do anything but hurt. He stepped away from her, seating himself on the edge of the bed and gazing down at his feet. "Why are you here?"

"For you."

"Why me? What could I possibly offer you?"

Silver hair flowed like water as she remained silent, eyes flicking between him and the starlit window behind him. Finally, her gaze fell back to him. "Do you know how the Reaping Tree got to this place?"

Lyrius frowned at the sudden change in topic but was grateful for it. "I assume that the Shadow Queen planted it."

"She did. Four years ago."

"Not possible," Lyrius said instantly. "She has been Graz'zt's prisoner for longer than that."

Eilistraee's frown was terse, chiding him both repeating what they already knew and what he was ignoring. "It may be that Graz'zt has released her from her torment to serve him again."

Lyrius' fists tightened in the sheets. "To what end? Surely he has other vassals and more willing servants to work with on this plane than a failed proxy."

"She is the only one with powerful ties to Arcadia."

"What does he want with that place?"

"There is a power rising there, Lyrius. A power that is going to shake this world to its foundations. A new god of evil. Such a being will tip the scales of power in favor of evil. Graz'zt has great stakes-placed in this happening. Gaining this new god as an ally would be the edge he needs."

"So that is why you are truly here," Lyrius said. It was a bitter realization and he berated himself for not figuring it out sooner. "You need a Champion to oppose the Shadow Queen and none are more suited for the task than I."

The goddess shook her head. "I am not here to ask for that."

She stood, regal and graceful. Two steps of her slim legs carried her over to him. Her fingers cupped his chin and lifted his gaze to meet her own. "I am here for you, Lyrius. You are hurting. I may not be able to take your pain away, but I will do what I can to ease its strain upon you."

"What would a goddess know of a mortal's pain?"

"I know what it is like to love those others condemn as evil. I know what is to know that when you devote all of your heart and soul to another and find that is simply not enough, that you cannot save them from themselves."

The goddess leaned down, her lips brushing over his cheek gently. "You do not have to hurt alone."

Lyrius' heart twisted. He shoved her hands away from his face. "Please leave. Now."

She nodded and reached out to brush his hair lightly before she was gone. Just like that. There in one moment, gone in the next.

Lyrius was alone. And he hurt.

He curled up on the bed, focusing on the hurt and ignoring the dampness in his eyes.

At least when he hurt, he was alive.

Iris was still dead.

He closed his eyes and waited for his love to ask him to join her.

TTTTTT

"Lyrius!" Serenity hammered her fist on the door. "Your breakfast is getting cold!"

There was no response, and she grumbled to herself, shifting the tray resting on her hip. "I know you're awake! You don't sleep unless you're three-quarters dead and since I literally sewed you back together, you're not even a tenth!"

Another round of banging produced similar results. Rex poked a tired face out of his door. "Red? What are you doing? It's too early! Go back to bed."

"It's nine a.m.! The morning is officially here and he's not out of his room yet." Serenity rapped on the door.

Rex stared at the tray and sniffed. Even with the lid on, he could smell the melting butter, fried meat and fluffy eggs. "So you made him breakfast of toast, eggs, sausage, bacon, hash browns and. — okay. Give it over."

"This isn't for you." Serenity held the tray up and away as Rex made a grab for it. "Yours in the kitchen."

"But it's so far away!"

"Fine. You can have some if you break down the door."

Rex glanced between her and the door a few times, before groaning and trudging past her. "If I don't survive the hike to the kitchen, I'm suing you for negligence, doc."

"We're both broke. There's nothing that you can sue me for." Serenity huffed at him as he passed and then brightened as she saw a dandelion of red hair stumbling down the hall. "Ember! Good to see you! How about an early morning workout with some resistance training? I need this door open!"

"Did you," Ember broke off to yawn, stretching her arms. "Did you try the knob?"

Serenity blinked and reached down. With a _click,_ the door swung open. "I forgot those were a thing. On Satellite, you just kind of barricade the door and hope for the best."

"Welcome to the modern world, Serenity. Doorknobs are a thing." Ember yawned again and shuffled towards the kitchen for nourishment

"So is covering your mouth when you yawn, young lady!" Serenity called after her and rolled her eyes when she got a third yawn in response. "Seriously, does no one have any manners?"

She shouldered her way inside and kicked the door shut behind her. "Hey, Lyrius. Let's have some food and then I can do another look at your wounds."

Lyrius was seated cross-legged on the bed, hands cupped in his lap and eyes closed. His breathing was shallow and even the strands of his dark hair didn't move.

"Hello? Tall, dark and broody?" Serenity set the tray down on the desk and folded her arms in annoyance. "I know you can hear me. C'mon, food."

There was no response.

"Lyrius. You've been out for nearly two days again and I don't care if you're trying to beat Jesus' respawn time, you still need food!"

No response.

"If you don't move, I'm not either! We can stay here until the heat death of the universe!"

"You will get cold."

"Says the man sitting there in his underwear," Serenity pulled his shirt off the armchair to throw it at him, then let it drop with a noise of disgust. "Lyrius, your shirt is soaking wet! And cold!"

"I had a nightmare."

A quick pat of the sheets by Serenity revealed more sweat-damage. "These will need changing. Now you _have_ to get up so I can make the bed!"

"I believe our hosts will handle that."

"Right. Not my house," Serenity nodded and then ran a hand through his hair, face twisting in frustration. "Then you need to get in the shower! Running a hand through your hair is like squeezing cold spaghetti!"

"You routinely grope cold pasta?"

Serenity tugged on his arm, frowning when he didn't move a millimeter. "Oh, come on."

"Please leave me to finish my meditation."

"If I do, you'll stay in here and brood until lunch. Not to mention all the food I went to the loving effort of preparing will get cold and go to waste. You want to hurt my feelings?"

"Resonae will adore warm food."

"Okay, you." Serenity put her metal fist underneath his chin. "I specifically asked for a rocket fist with my new arm. Haven't had a reason to test it out yet, but you're making a good case for it. So unless you wanna be eating through a straw for the foreseeable future, I suggest you get that butt of yours into that shower!"

Lyrius cracked open an eye. "Did you first swear to do no harm?"

"My license has expired and I'm technically dead. Nothing's really stopping me."

"Very well." Lyrius waited until she stepped back, then unfolded himself from the bed. Seizing the towel she offered,, he vanished into the bathroom. "I want to go on record as stating that I do this under duress."

"As long as you do it undressed, too." Serenity smirked at his huff, listening to the shower kick on, settling herself into a chair and helping herself to some food.

She was spreading jam on her second piece of toast when Lyrius emerged. He was still shirtless, but he looked clean and his hair was neatly brushed. "That wasn't so hard, now was it?"

"Your bath products made it easier to bear, yes."

Serenity sniffed the air; Lyrius smelled like her favorite strawberry bath scrub. "Ooh, you do smell kind of delicious."

"I doubt I am part of a balanced diet. Or good for your health in general."

"Hey, I'd be Weevil's fuck toy mindslave if it hadn't been for you," Serenity pointed out, fighting off her shivers.

He helped himself to some hash browns, silencing reigning as the two ate for a few minutes. Then Serenity said. "The Shadowchasers say they're going to open up a portal for us back to Satellite so we can get our things."

"Will you require my help?"

"Yours and Reasone's. Most of my stuff can be donated to others on Satellite, but it's all kinds of hard to carry. Might as well make use of the pack pony while we got her."

"If you can give her sufficient bribery, I'm sure she will be grateful for the exercise."

"Got some cake on standby already."

"Good."

More silence followed and Serenity sighed good-naturedly. "You are just terrible at small talk, you know that, right?"

"It has been mentioned, yes. I just find it pointless to discuss meaningless things. Conversations should have a point."

"Learning about people, building relationships, making the time go by, those aren't reason enough?" Serenity rolled her eyes when Lyrius just shook his head. "Okay, fine, let's have a conversation with a point. Who was in your room last night?"

Lyrius nearly dropped his toast. "You would not believe me if I told you."

"Try me."

"A goddess from another world visited me personally because she felt I needed comfort and succor."

The stillness hung in the air for a few moments and Lyrius lifted his head from his plate. Serenity looked at him intently. "I told you so."

"No, no. I believe you. I mean, I said I heard voices and the woman's voice that was definitely not from around here. Way too exotic." Serenity squinted at him. "Did you cry on her shoulder?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"I do not need the divine messing up my life any more than they already have."

"Given how you crashed into Satellite, looking for giant gods to go fight and die to, I think you'd _want_ divine intervention."

"I do not."

"She still came and tried to help you. Well, next time, you guys come get me and then she and I can work on a tag-team strategy for combating your depression and finding you a purpose in life."

Lyrius laughed. "I do not think you grasp what happened. Deities are very proud and arrogant. One paying personal attention that a mortal comes with many, many strings attached. To visit out of compassion is unheard-of."

"It must say a lot about you that she took the personal time and effort to check up on you and offer you help."

"Only that I am a commodity."

"I was thinking more along the lines of the fact she just offered you comfort." Serenity pointed out. "Did she ask for to you to convert? Pray to her? Go slay her evil twin brother?"

"No," Lyrius admitted after a moment. "But she is a deity. She has to have ulterior motives."

"Why?"

"Deities are motivated by expanding their domains and maintaining control over what they already have. Their power is directly related to how much faith there is in them."

"So they're people." Serenity chuckled as Lyrius lifted his head to look at her. "We all do that kind of thing. We, live according to our own beliefs and values and promoting them makes more powerful because than more people believe in them. And it's usually to self-validate our existence."

"Most people do not act like the world is ending when minor slights happen against them."

"You've never been on Twitter, have you?"

"Why are we talking about birds?"

Serenity laughed and Lyrius managed a smile at her happiness. It quickly faded at her next question. "Do you want to tell me why she came down from on high to give you that shoulder to cry on?"

Lyrius glanced away. " No, I do not want to tell you."

"Is it because you want to die?" Serenity didn't flinch when his head snapped back around to glare at her. "I've been doing my job for a long time, Lyrius. You are not the first I've seen come my way with despair"

She put her plate aside, crossing her legs and watching him carefully. "Talk to me? I can help, even if you think I can't."

"Serenity -"

"I'm a trained physician, and trust me, being the only medical professional on Satellite means you get a lot of experience at helping people cope with non-physical problems. I won't force you to talk to me, but you need someone to lean on. And I'm the only doctor within a hundred miles who will actually believe your words."

Lyrius gave a reluctant nod. "The Shadow Queen came to me in my dream last night and gave me a sword and said that if I loved her, I would kill myself for her. And I did not refuse."

"Because you feel you can't save her from the Abyss and dying is the only way to let you be with her?"

"Because I _know_ can't save her from the Abyss," Lyrius corrected. "Not now, not ever."

"But your soul is cursed, isn't it, same as hers? If you die, then you fall under Graz'zt's control. And he will separate the two of you in eternal torment for shits and giggles."

"Damned if I do, damned if I do not." Lyrius' fists clenched. "I am powerless."

"That Shadow Queen you saw in the museum?"

"The Shadow Queen was a separate personality from my wife. Or at least, the woman I thought to be my wife. If they truly are one and the same — " One of his hands rose to the wound over his heart, the memory of the shadow tearing through his flesh still fresh. "Then all is lost."

"Why do you think that?"

"Is it not obvious? I cannot save her from the Abyss, I cannot face her when she in this world, I cannot!" Lyrius gave up on talking, blinking away the tears forming on his eyelashes.

"Lyrius, you don't have to. Just because you are personally invested in Iris does not mean stopping her is your job. Tell the Shadowchasers."

"She is my responsibility."

"Not like this. Your responsibility isn't to go gallivanting around the world, chasing the Shadow Queen and bringing her to justice. Even if you did catch up to her and beat her, wouldn't Graz'zt just yank her back to the Abyss and turn her loose somewhere else?"

Lyrius nodded.

"The only way to free her is to go to the Abyss and challenge Graz'zt directly. Through a game, a duel, a fight, whatever it takes. And yes, you've said that yourself are not strong enough _by yourself. I_ f you truly wish to become strong enough, you are going to need not only your own strength but the strength of others, too."

"And who would want to help me?"

"Me, for one. And your goddess friend for another."

Lyrius frowned, her words clearly sinking in. "Even so, assaulting Graz'zt is a daunting affair and -"

"You're too focused on your goal and how big it is that you're not seeing the small things. You need to get yourself in shape, find some allies and then plan your big trip to hell."

She grabbed his deck and flipped it over, peeling off the Extra Deck cards and spreading them out in front of her. Most of them were the fogged over magical cards she'd seen before. "You've got this Dark Rebellion Exceed -"

"Ik-sheeze."

"Right. Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon, Clear Wing Synchro Dragon and a bunch of other magical cards that you don't know what they are." Serenity tapped the cards in question with her fingertips, the action spreading ripples across their foggy surface. "Since they were her last gift to you, I would think they're kind of important. Where did you get them, anyway?"

"It is a very long story, but the short version of it is they're native to Arcadia and were sealed in giant stone slabs that were also blurry."

"So we should work on unlocking these things. Trust me when I say that after you've done this, the next one down the line will be easier. Then, at some point, you're going to know you're ready to save her." Serenity reached out and squeezed his hand. "Doctor's orders."

"You are correct, Doctor Wheeler," Lyrius said after a few contemplative moments. "I have been dwelling too long on what I cannot do instead of what I can."

"Let's go pack up my things and get ready to go to Vegas. Rayearth has been about slapping me in the face with hints that it's probably where we should go."

"A tournament would be a good place to unlock these cards."

"It sounds like fun and we'll be traveling together." She produced a manila envelope and waved it at him, her smile teasing. "Seems like you're more fond of me than you let on, Lyrius. You got us married and didn't even tell me."

He frowned, the cottoned on to what she meant. "So that is our cover identity? An excellent reason for keeping you close to me and safe from whatever magical dangers we incur."

Her face fell and she pouted. "Leave it to you to suck the fun out of getting married."

"I apologize. Shall I find you a stripper and arrange a hen party?"

"Now you're talking!"

TTTTTT

It had only been a week since she'd last been in her home, but it was jarringly unfamiliar to Serenity now. Too empty, too hollow and too stark. The last week had been one whirlwind event after another and this place — her home, her clinic — was devoid of anything but pain and loss. Of mind-numbing routine that had deadened her to the outside world. And now that she'd been reawakened to that life, the small island of Satellite was small and cloying.

 _(It's like a funeral home.)_ Her kitchen table creaked in protest as she under the weight of her new arm. _(Or a morgue. I was the only one here for a long time and too many who came never left under their own power.)_

It was a depressing thought.

She couldn't wait to put this place behind her.

"Serenity?"

"Yeah?"

Rex eyed the large, battered suitcase seated at the end of her couch. "That cannot be _everything_ you own."

"Except for the house, but eh. You can have it."

Rex glanced around at the crumbling house. "Gee, thanks."

"How are you doing?"

"Still damn sore, but in the way that lets you know you're alive. Been real long time since I had a magic duel," Rex replied and stretched, letting out a rolling groan to prove his point. "You?"

"I'm okay. Just still working through the tiredness. I don't know how big brother and the others managed to do this so often." Serenity twisted around at the sound of a zip being undone. "Rex!"

"Yeah?" He looked up from where he was digging into her suitcase.

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Fine. Go ahead. You aren't going to find much."

"You're telling me." Rex thumbed through the stack of threadbare clothes. "First thing you're doing, buying a new wardrobe."

"Those are practical!"

"Practically ancient." Rex shuffled through the remaining items. "Your deck, more clothes, a hairbrush," He held up a battered tin can. "A can of army rations?"

"I served in the military for a while.".

"And you say _I_ never tell you everything about myself." Rex grinned as he found a booklet. "Hey, here we go! Something good!"

He paged through its dog-eared contents. Worn images of the King of Games, her brother and the rest of her friends filled the book. Near the end, the pages filled with fraying creases and folds. Rex gingerly undid one, revealing a carefully scrawled map. It was filled with neat, minuscule shorthand and a red 'x'. "What's with the maps?"

Serenity wandered over to peer over his shoulder. "Maps?"

Rex flipped the book around. "You got one for nearly all of your little gang. Did you all bury treasure around the world?"

"After Zero Reverse, there always rumors of someone famous surviving. Things were such a mess back thing. The hospitals were swamped, all the riots and everything. I started doodling maps whenever I had the time. Trying to figure where they were. Kept telling myself as soon as I got my work done, I'd be able to go to them."

Rex glanced at the booklet again. "And the 'x's?"

"The last rumored location I heard about them. Something I did in my spare time to stay sane. Always meant to go off and look for everyone, but we were so focused on trying to get more medical supplies it didn't really hit us we were stranded on Satellite until we tried to leave." Serenity flopped on the couch. "I still heard rumors now and again when criminals were dumped here, but nothing was ever really substantiated."

"I bet. Neo Domino really went out of its way to make sure this place was a hellhole." Rex found a single photo in the back away from the others. It was newer than the others. Trapped beneath the celluloid was a blonde bombshell, who looked remarkably happy despite the background clearly being Satellite. But the cheerful smile was perfunctory, haunted eyes clearly not there in the moment the picture was taken while exhaustion seemed to fill the lines in her face. There was an accompanying map, but Serenity had also included a list of names and places. "Any particular reason this photo of Mai is wedged in the back like this?"

"Mai was on Satellite for a while. Some aid workers found her with a group of homeless people in a shanty town. She was really out of it. She managed to give them my name, so they brought her to me."

"How'd she wind up there? I was in South America when Zero Reverse happened, but some of the Pro Circuit guys were slumming it. Mai was scheduled to participate in a team tournament. I won tickets for it off the slobs."

"That's what I thought. I was planning to vacation in the States and catch a leg of her tour." Serenity seemed to be choosing her next words carefully. "You know Mai and my brother were involved, right?"

"Your brother couldn't keep a secret to save his life and I -" Rex coughed into his fist. "I may have crashed a couple of their dueling dates when I had a bit too much drink."

"Drunkasaurus Rex." Serenity grinned lopsidedly at the thought, but it was fleeting. "Anyway, Joey and Mai were always on-again, off-again for _years_. I think the longest they made it apart was like four years. But they never settled down at all. Mai was nearly always on the road, touring, dueling, doing something or other. Sometimes, she'd wind up knocking on my apartment door in the middle of the night all these bags and gifts and looking for a place to crash until her next whatever."

"Why didn't he slap a ring on her finger? Joey was a determinator and he looked at Mai like she was the only thing in the world that mattered. He'd work himself to the bone if it meant making her happy."

Serenity was quiet for a moment. "I think they both realized it would never work between them if they did it like that. After all the stuff you guys went through, Mai changed. She never stayed if she could help it. But she did like to swoop in with surprises. She wound up in the wrong place at the wrong time if she was sent here."

"What happened to her?"

"Same as everyone else stranded. No food, shelter, water and caught up in the gang wars over what little there actually was. But Mai, she kept talking about how she could see things — people with pointed ears and cracks of dark magic in the ground and how there were little people scurrying around when they thought we weren't looking. She attacked a few people, said that they were monsters. And not like werewolves, but things with tentacles instead of mouths or more than two eyes. I treated her with what was on hand, but that ran out in the first few months and kindness and patience aren't exactly cure-alls."

Serenity sighed in defeat. "But the images and things never went away and she started resenting me for not believing her. We'd argue constantly." Serenity glanced down at her metal hand and flexed the fingers. "The night I lost my arm, I had gone out to treat a patient who'd been knifed in a street fight. Mai begged me not to go, said there was a vampire out there and it'd kill me. I yelled at her to shut up."

"But there really was a vampire."

"Maybe. I don't know. When I got on scene, I was attacked from behind. I remember fighting and then a lot of pain. When I came to, I was back in my clinic and the doctors were putting a prosthetic on. They told me later Mai had dragged me back. I asked after her, but all they could tell me was that she'd left, said something about not forgiving herself. Left behind a Cyber Harpie card."

"Heck of a calling card." Rex said. "You don't get off Satellite. Not like that. Sector Security has always been a thing."

"I don't know how. In the early years, there were always people trying to build rafts and boats or whatever. But I know she got off — there were criminals and people like you would show up from time to time and I'd hear stories I knew were her." Serenity glanced down at the booklet. "So I kept updating her map."

"She's the one you were asking about a few days ago when Lyrius mentioned Awareness Madness." Rex grimaced as he connected the dots. "All that magical shit we all went through — the penalty games, the Orichalcos and then Zero Reverse. No wonder she started seeing the all the magic and Shadowatsits."

"She's part of the reason I decided to leave with Lyrius. I want to find her." Serenity swallowed a lump. Of all her failures and regrets, Mai was the biggest. The twenty years between then and now hadn't eased the pain at all. A wound she kept raw, afraid if it closed up she'd have accepted the worst. "I don't even know if she's alive."

Tears plunked against her metal limbs as they rolled down her face.

"Hang on, Red." Rex said. "I'll get you something."

A few minutes later, a shadow fell over her and she glanced over to see Lyrius looming over her, hand extended with a handkerchief.

"Thank you." Serenity took it and wiped at her face. "Sorry about the tears. Bad memories."

"Understandable," Lyrius said softly. "What else may I do for you?"

"Not get yourself half-killed again?" Serenity managed a smile at Lyrius' small head shake. "I know, not likely. Just give me a hug."

"A … hug?" Lyrius said the word hesitantly.

"Your arms are good for more than brushing Resonae and swinging a sword. It's a human connection thing. Makes us feel like we're not alone."

"A hug is something I am not experienced with. Or have ever had to actually think about doing. How do I start?"

"Open your arms." Serenity waited patiently until he'd done as instructed and then threw herself at him. Reflexively, his arms folded around her and despite her weight, he barely staggered. Thanks to their height difference, her world was suddenly all dark clothing and strawberry scent while Lyrius snorted as her hairs tickled his nose. "See? Not so hard."

"You attacked me."

"You cannot expect me to believe that in centuries of marriage your wife never hugged you."

"It was only a century and I was hugged many times." Lyrius shifted uncomfortably. "But she was the only one to ever do it, so I feel hugs are a romantic gesture. A gift. Something not shared lightly."

"Really?" Serenity looked up at him in surprise. "That's a really sweet sentiment."

"I see."

Serenity giggled. "You're doing that blushing thing again. Crimson is crawling up your face. Are you about to boil over?"

"No," Lyrius said quickly and found a reason to look at everything else in the room but her.

"I'm the one with the medical degree and thirty-five years of active practice, so I think I'm qualified enough to certify that you're blushing." Serenity's grin broadened and she squeezed her arms around him. "See? I'm returning your hug!"

"Thank you." Lyrius still wasn't meeting her gaze. "But I think you can keep it."

Serenity laughed.

"Will you release me now?"

"You could let go first."

"It feels," Lyrius finally glanced down at her, embarrassment tugging at his normally taciturn expression, "rude to do so."

"Well, I suppose that means I have to let go first." Serenity grinned up at him, a single red eyebrow loaded, armed and cocked, daring him to make her day. His gaze darted down the rest of her face, but to no avail. Her wily smirk provided back-up in the form of dangerous promises and air support.

His gaze swept lower still.

"Why is it whenever you show up, Lyrius, I feel like I should be reaching for the biggest bottle I got?" Rex's voice snapped Lyrius' gaze over to him. "First, Weevil shows up. Then you tell me everything I know is a lie. Then we get attacked and my bar burns down. Now you're putting moves on my girl."

Lyrius and his shadow both flickered with ebony magic and he reappeared a few steps back, his face expressionless."Apologies."

Rex burst out laughing and Lyrius fumed as the snickering continued. "Gotcha!"

Serenity couldn't help but join in fell back against the couch. "Oh, Rex, damn that was good."

"Thank you, thank you, I'll be here for — well forever." Rex tossed Serenity the box of tissues he'd found. "So what was all that for, anyway?"

"Lyrius here only ever hugged his wife. Can you believe it?"

"Seriously, king?" Rex seemed beside himself in disbelief. "You warrior badasses didn't give each other hugs after a battle and bellow on how you were brothers and stuff?"

Lyrius shook his head. "I had few friends and it was inappropriate to touch a king, let alone your leader."

He was dumbstruck as Rex came over, gave him a big, hard squeeze and the thumped him a couple of times on the back. Releasing Lyrius, Rex gave him a thumbs-up. "There you go. First real man-hug. Hope it was as good for as it was for me."

Serenity fell off the couch giggling. "All we need now is Resonae to give it a try and Lyrius'll will have gotten a hug from everyone!"

Eager hoofbeats quickly became a gallop and then the door flew from its hinges, Lyrius vanishing as a flame, half-ton Nightmare eagerly tackled her master.

"Damn. Demon pony got good ears."

Minutes later, the three were seated at the table and Lyrius was dusting himself clean.

"Now that we are all in good spirits from exchanging hugs..." His voice was so dry that a step further would have had it turn to dust. From outside the house, it was easy to hear Resonae's wicked laughter. "I would like inform you both that I intend to be leaving Satellite in the next few days."

"Kinda figured that, yeah." Rex drawled. He took a drink from a soda. "Between those gods and all this hullabaloo, this place is probably going to be crawling in magic-types. Not to mention that Weevil and his bone buddy are still out there."

"Yes. The Shadowchasers are already in the process of hunting them down, but given the kind of grudge Weevil seem to be capable of holding I would not put it past him to seek me out. And…" He glanced down at his own drink. "I spent too long hiding in my pain and loss. I spent a thousand years yearning to be free, so now is the time for me to learn what means."

"We're going to Vegas!" Serenity bounced in her seat.

"Really?" Rex glanced between them. "The two of you?"

"We're married!"

"No, see, Red, you got to Vegas to _get_ married, not when you already are. That usually winds up with the opposite of marriage." Rex explained and grinned as she thumped him on his head for his cheek. "Also, I'm betting it's a cover identity."

"...yes." Serenity pouted. "You two are no fun. I at least expected a gasp or a 'no way!' about my new husband, but nope. You're too practical."

"Eh. The Shadowchasers gave me a cover identity as a retired salesman." Rex shrugged. "Lets me travel since no one wants to stop a tourist with money to spend."

"You're not coming with us?" Serenity's face fell.

"Naw. I got some friends in Germany I think are still kickin' and want to pay'em a visit." Rex slid out of the booth. "Now, hang on, you two. I'll go get you a wedding present."

Lyrius watched him go and took a pull of his drink. "Do you think it's the antidote to his homebrew?"

Serenity snorted a laugh her own drink. "I'm pretty sure the antidote just burns our taste buds off so we can't taste the stuff." She swirled her drink, the contents fizzing acidly. "I can't wait until we get to Vegas and I can try some real high-class booze. Ooh, maybe we should go a winery tour afterwards."

"I am afraid that after Vegas, we will part ways." Lyrius waved his hand reassuringly as she gave him a frown. "Weevil and the lich are still out there. As are others who desire my head or worse. Once we get things settled in Vegas, you should have no problem earning enough to live a life of luxurious retirement. Replete with slinky, gorgeous dresses and handsome male slaves peeling and feed you grapes one by one."

"It's not fun if you're not seeing me in the dress or the slave feeding me grapes…" Serenity muttered into her soda.

"Beg pardon?"

"I asked what you were gonna do after Vegas. You don't exactly have a home to go to."

"Travel, as I did before. Except for this time it will be with retraining myself in mind and body and strengthening the cards Iris gave me. I know of several martial artists who will spar with me and others I can hope to befriend and have allies in my quest to save Iris."

"Lyrius, you suck at small talk. I think most friends you've ever had probably have been afraid of you."

"This is true. But I will have Resonae. She does amazing puppy dog eyes. We will be just fine."

"I'm your doctor. I'll go with you."

Lyrius froze, drink halfway to his mouth. "I just told you why you should not. I am already drawing lightning and you seem to have this inane desire to dance in the thunderstorm with a metal pole."

"You don't draw lightning, you engage it in a slugging match." Serenity countered. "You need someone to save your butt and sew it back together. And as tough as your pony is, she isn't going to be able to thread a needle with those hooves."

"Why? You are not even Aware. Anything I encounter or do battle with will somewhat incomprehensible and thus far more dangerous to you."

"That didn't stop my brother or his friends, especially if what you say is true and a lot of the world's problems are solved by Duel Monsters. You need someone to help you, cover for you, and keep you together." She pulled a can of soda out of the ice chest at their feet next to the table and gave him a stern look. "Also, I'm your doctor and I'm invested in seeing that you go on living for a very long time."

"Thank you. But-" He was cut off as a metal finger wagged in his face.

"Ah ah ah. I've said I'm coming with you. No arguments." She nodded to make it official. "Doctor's orders."

"That is not how you win an argument."

"You're right. I should be more conniving." Serenity grabbed a can of soda and leaned out of her seat towards the door. "Hey, Resonae!"

The Nightmare poked her head through the curtain curiously.

"You want a soda?"

Resonae nodded.

"You can have one, but you can't let Lyrius leave Vegas without me. If he does, you have to sink your teeth into his ass and drag him back, okay?"

Another smirking nod.

"That's my girl." Serenity underhanded the soda towards the unicorn, who deftly and delicately caught it in her mouth before vanishing back outdoor.

The doctor re-seated herself, her smile living up to her name even in the face of Lyrius' sharp scowl. "How's that?"

"Subtle." He informed her dryly.

"As a good friend of mine once said, 'sisters before misters'."

"Very well. You may come with me." Lyrius conceded before narrowing his eyes. "This is the catch. You must do as I tell you, when I tell you concerning Shadowkind and magic. You, as a Mundane, cannot see it for what it truly is and making any kind of assumption based on anything that false information shows could very easily lead to your death."

"Fair. You're the man in the know, I'm just the intern." She toasted him with her soda and took a swig. She'd barely gotten a gulp down before she heaved and spluttered, soda spraying over the countertop. "Oh good lord, I forgot how sweet soda is!"

"And sticky." Lyrius supplied blandly, orange dripping from his face and the tips of his bangs.

Serenity took one look at him and burst out laughing, hugging her sides. "You look like a popsicle brooding over the fact he's melting!"

"I am glad I provide such merriment for you." Lyrius grabbed some napkins and wiped at his face gingerly. But they simply tore into bits as they caught on the sticky skin, leaving his face flecked with white.

"Now you have cream filling!" Serenity erupted in a fresh round of laughter, hanging onto the table to keep herself from collapsing to the floor.

Sighing, Lyrius pulling out a handkerchief and dunked it in the half-melted ice in the cooler before wiping at his face more thoroughly.

"You got it all." Serenity assured him after she got herself under control and wiped at her eyes. "Oooh, I needed that, even if my sides hurt!"

"Serenity."

"Mmmm?" She lifted an eyebrow at him. "What's with that serious face? Well, seriouser than usual."

"How do you do that? Laugh so openly?"

"I just do it when I find things that are funny." The doctor shrugged. "Don't you laugh?"

"Not like that. I have seen others do it, but I don't. I find things amusing, but I just don't let myself go like you do."

"You have a serious personality. And a lot of hardships. It's just how you are." She shrugged. "Did you think you were broken or something?"

"...if I say yes, will you laugh again?"

"Naw, she won't, but I will." Rex said as he entered, carrying a large black box that was covered in soot. "But only a little. I promise. And maybe when you're back is turned."

"Rex!"

"Well, it's less rude than doing it front of him, right?" Rex snickered at Serenity's glower and just set his box down on the table. "Anyway, king, it's alright if you're broken. 'Cause, you know, _kintsugi_ is a thing."

"I do not follow."

"It's like my mugs, remember? They broke, but I repaired them and made the cracks and scars part of their designs. Even drew emphasis to them by making sure the resin was bumpy." Rex settled himself into his chair. "So it's alright if you're broken, Lyrius. We can help put yourself back together."

"And what can be used to fix a broken person?"

Serenity smiled knowingly. "It's something you can't see, but have already seen before."

Lyrius looked at her confusion. "A riddle?"

"Mmmhmm. My friends and I used to trade it all the time. You're supposed to figure out your own answer for it." Serenity's smile grew at his frustrated expression. "Let's get to Vegas first, Lyrius. If you haven't figured it out then, then I'll take pity on you. Promise."

"Hey, _kintsugi_ uses gold to fix things and the city of glam, glitter and good times is the perfect place to find some bling for a king." Grinning at his own joke, Rex popped open his case and spun it around to face the other two. "And to pay for some good times ahead — Happy marriage!"

Serenity's jaw dropped slightly and Lyrius's eyebrows jumped in surprise. "That is a lot of money for a Satellite resident, Rex."

"Aww, I was traveling for decades before I crashed here. I just didn't realize you couldn't get _off_ the damn place. So I kept a bunch of cash on me so I'd always have some on hand no matter where I want. Not to mention, sometimes I had to cross a border illegally and couldn't find a money changer."

"Rex, it was more than sometimes. You have _yen, pesos, kroner,_ Euros, pound notes, dollar bills in here. And that's just the ones I recognize!" Serenity was fingering through the stacks of bills and coins. "Where were you keeping all this?"

"Fireproof lockbox in a hole under the bar." Rex thumped the case. "At any rate, I figure Serenity's awesome luck and Lyrius' crap luck will balance out in Vegas, so you guys need this more than I do."

"We cannot take all of this." Lyrius said immediately and Serenity nodding in agreement.

"Hey, you aren't. I already took out what I'm going to need for my trip. Honest. And two people are more expensive than one. So don't insult my honor, here and take it already, eh?" Rex mimed putting up his fists. "Or I'll punch that face back into pretty, Red."

"Hey, I'm already pretty!" Serenity pouted at him. "And why would you hit the doctor, you ass? Hit Lyrius!"

"He hits back!"

"I do, too!" Serenity raised her metal arm. "And now I've got a rocket fist!"

"Sure ya do, sure ya do!" Rex waved the potential threat away and pulled out a bottle. "You wanna know what was in my fireproof case? A bottle of genuine Jack Daniels!"

He produced three shot glasses and poured them all. Grabbing one, he raised it in the air. "So as our last act as Satellite residents, I hereby open my bar in this room only for the next hour! And no one leaves until this bottle is empty!"

"Hear hear!" Serenity grabbed her own glass and clinked it against Rex's own.

"To our good health and even greater fortune." Lyrius agreed and toasted with his friends.

They all downed their glasses with mix results. Serenity coughed a bit, Rex nearly choked at the strong flavor and Lyrius remained stone-faced.

The doctor stared at her glass, then grabbed the bottle to look at the label and poured herself another one. "Rex, where did you even get this? It's almost a quarter-century old!"

"Well, see, me and Weevil were bumming around the American Deep South and decided that we wanted something to remember the trip buy. And we got a little drunk and decided, hey, that chicken Colonel Sanders guy, he had this really cool cane, and so we were-"

TTTTTT

 _A/N:_ _Okkaayy….so this chapter is not out on Friday! But I have good reasons! Really, I do! I...uh...uh...uh…_

 _Okay, not really. This one was just really hard to write and went through four different drafts, the first two nearly one hundred percent different than the one I wound up with!_

 _Mei: (smirking) This is the part where I say "I told you so!" (does a smug dance)_

 _7th: Don't be like that! I worked really hard on this chapter! I deserve a reward!_

 _Mei: There are doughnuts in the fridge._

 _7th: Doughnuts? They are all mine! MINE I TELL YOU! MIIIINNNNNEEEE_

Also, next time, we take a short detour as our intrepid pair finds themselves at where it all began for the YGO series itself! Duelist Kingdom!


	9. Duelist Kingdom: The Island of Fate

Kintsugi  
By 7th Librarian

 _A/N:_ _Do you want to know many drafts this chapter took to get right!? You better tell me, because I lost count._

 _Twice._

 _Let that sink in a little._

 _Okay, you may continue reading the results of my blood, sweat and tears_.

Chapter 9: Duelist Kingdom: The Island of Fate

"I'm sorry, Mister Stormcloud!" The deckhand was an old sea dog, with salt-and-pepper hair, strong callused hands and a uniform neat in only the way experience at keeping it so could bring. But under Lyrius' cool gaze, he seemed to deflate like a punctured balloon. "I haven't seen your wife! I'm sorry I can't be of more help!"

"Thank you." Lyrius didn't care that the words were a little too dismissive; he was already striding down the deck in search of another clue to Serenity's location. Once they had boarded, he had gone about meditating and having lunch. The doctor had slept for most of the day, but had set an alarm and said she'd join Lyrius for dinner. But dinner had arrived twenty minutes ago and Serenity hadn't.

This late at night, the deck was empty save for the occasional passenger wanting privacy. Or reenact a scene from a movie that involved them standing on a railing with wide open arms and shouting about being 'King of the World!' before falling back so their partner could catch them.

It was peculiar and foolhardy. One could not become a ruler because they stood at the bow of some cruise ship.

When another crew member made himself scarce upon seeing him coming, Lyrius deduced that he'd completed another circuit of the deck. Serenity was not here. A quick glance into the dining hall showed she wasn't at dinner, either. No one in there sported her graying auburn hair. Or the gigantic novelty sunglasses she insisted were a necessity.

That left only their room, which he'd already checked and then locked, and the hold. And the only thing of interest down there was a grumpy Resonae who was very unhappy at being transported with the luggage like a pet, and even more irritated by how fast word was spreading. Several passengers had already ventured down to the hold to take selfie with her. Lyrius sympathized with his mount, but it would be impossible to explain to a boat full of mundanes that his "sweet little pony" did in fact have a row of razor sharp teeth. So Resonae endured in grumpy silence. Perhaps Serenity had gone to placate the Nightmare via chocolate and a tummy rub.

The trip to hold was uneventful, and he swept through the open door. The hold was almost full, laden with suitcases and other forms of luggage. He slid between a large crate labeled 'Zen Garden rocks' and maneuvered between a row of strapped down D-Wheels to reach the location where the pets were being kept.

There weren't many — dogs and cats — but they were all quiet as he approached. There were towels thrown over some cages, but he suspected that the rest had realized the petulant Nightmare, even tied to a post, would not tolerate their noise.

Resonae was difficult to miss. Sedating her for the journey had been out of the question — normal horse tranquilizers wouldn't work on a Nightmare. That only left Lyrius knocking her unconscious and that would not have gone over well, either. Instead, they'd made a placating attempt by tying her to a piece of the ship with strong rope and giving her blankets to curl up on. But they all knew it wouldn't hold Resonae if she wanted to escape — her teeth would cut through the rope without even trying.

And as he picked up the tattered end of said rope, Lyrius noted she hadn't tried. It was a clean, surgical cut. But as there was no traipsing Nightmare on the upper decks, she still had to be in the hold.

 _(Over_ _here,_ _Master.)_

Lyrius stepped over a cage containing a cowering dachshund and moved to the corner Resonae owned. The Nightmare curled on her side against the hull, the blankets piled up underneath her like a makeshift throne. Nestled against her, face buried in her coat and drawn up under a blanket was Serenity.

 _(Your mate panicked.)_ Resonae twisted her head to nose the human's hair. _(Comfort her.)_

"What happened?" Lyrius cast his senses out for any approaching danger or threat, but he found nothing unusual save for the sobs being pressed into Resonae's chest.

 _(I am uncertain,)_ the Nightmare admitted. _(She is unharmed beyond this attack of fright.)_

Confused, and a little frightened, Lyrius parked himself on the edge of the blankets and inched toward the pair. "Serenity?"

Her skin was hot to touch, and beneath his fingers he could feel her pulse racing. Now he was closer, he realized that what he had mistaken for sobs were sharp shallow breaths. Despite the Nightmare's assurances, his eyes skimmed her body looking for any signs of injury.

 _(How long has she been like this?)_

 _(A little while)_

Trepidation crept through Lyrius's mind as he realized that he did not understand what to do. His instinct when faced with some kind of unknown ailment would be to ask a doctor — but Serenity _was_ their doctor, and she was in no state to help herself. Without knowing what had distressed her, he was powerless to help his friend. All he could do was sit there and stroke her hair, feeling more powerless by the minute.

however, her breathing evened out. A sheen of sweat had beaded along her face, and she jumped as Resonae snorted a blast of hot air over her head in the nearest approximation of sympathy she could manage.

"Serenity?" Lyrius tried again, this time taking one of her hands and squeezing it.

"Here…" her voice trembled with exhaustion and shakiness

"Are you hurt?"

"... dizzy." Against Resonae's coat, it was possible to see her blinking hard against something only she could see. "Sick."

"Can you tell me what happened?" He wondered if it would help her sit up, but he was uncertain if she had enough steam to do it.

"Panic attack." There was a certainty to her voice as she spoke that heralded years of professional diagnosis kicking into life. "Never happened before."

Lyrius frowned. "I am not familiar with this phenomenon."

"You won't be — it's not something most patients talk about. Too embarrassed." Relief began to rush overfor she sounded more like herself. Her hands slid up and down her arms as though warding off a sudden chill.

"You should never feel embarrassed to talk."

Resonae gave him a look. _(She knows that.)_ She puffed on the human's hair again, and this time, she got a long belly stroke in response.

"I think it might have been the ocean," the doctor admitted,. "I went out onto the deck, saw all the water around us and my brain just... blanked. Then I saw spots, and I knew I couldn't stay there. I got down here before my legs gave out."

"The ocean was too big. Too flat and empty and hollow and you realized how small you are in the face of it... and how easy becoming lost forever is. No one would ever know." Lyrius found the words slipping free without his thinking about them, but they _felt_ right. He squeezed Serenity's hand. "I know that fear. At least you made it somewhere comfortable. I passed out on the deck."

For the first time, Serenity's face emerged from Resonae's belly and she frowned at him. "You passed out on deck? While I was down here?"

"No, it was many centuries ago. I was just appointed Queen's Shadow and Iris decided she wanted claim the nearby island of Arcadia as her capital." Lyrius turned around, so he was leaning against Resonae. "We set sail and for the first day I was fine. But then the winds stopped, and the ships came to a dead halt. We spent hours not moving on the ocean, waiting for the sorcerers to conjure wind. The ocean was too much. I stared at it and felt fear at my throat when I realized just how expansive it was, how _empty_ it was. That this tiny wooden ship I was on was easy to dash apart for a wave. Or devoured by a sea dragon."

He gave her a wane smile. "The fear was so all-consuming it was paralyzing and I had to pried off the railing and when I was, I passed out. A very irate Shadow Queen woke me, and she was furious I had shown such weakness. I had to spend the voyage in a cabin, studying battle plans and logistics and come up with a plan of attack for assaulting Arcadia as punishment. It was horrible."

She managed a smile at that and squeezed his hand again. "It's embarrassing... after everything I've done. Everywhere I've been. Almost forty years as a practicing physician. And now I'm freaking out at the sight of water."

"Experience does not prepare one for everything. And the water can be frightening."

"I know," she scooted away from Resonae with a sigh. "I'm okay now, I think." She pushed herself up on her metal arm and crashed came back down. "Or I'm still dizzy. Help me?"

Lyrius stood and pulled her up along with him, free arm around her waist as she staggered. "We do not have to leave if you want to remain here. Resonae appreciates the company."

The Nightmare nickered in agreement.

"I feel tired," Serenity admitted. "I think I want something to settle my stomach."

"Dinner is being served."

"Too many people right now." Serenity leaned her weight against Lyrius after a few more unsteady experimental steps. "I want somewhere quiet to rest. My body hurts all over…"

"I believe I have something that may help with your aches and pains." Lyrius fished around in one of his pockets and produced a gold necklace set with gemstones.

"I know medicine wasn't all that advanced a thousand years ago, but I'm sure that jewelry wasn't part of anyone's medical bag."

"It's a necklace I crafted Iris a long time ago. She wore it often, and she put many spells onto it. Many of them would deal with aches and pains, nausea, minor wounds. Even frizziness in her hair. The Shadow Queen had an image to maintain after all and could not have human weaknesses."

"It's exquisite." Serenity marveled. The necklace itself was slender and small, bigger than the width one of his fingers. And the gemstones on it were even smaller, a single ruby dangling from the center like a drop of blood, two small sapphires flanking that sparkled like they'd trapped a ray of sunlight in them and the diamonds next to them were so small she had to double check they were there and not tricks of the light.

It wasn't hard to see where this was going. "It's for me, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"Lyrius, it belonged to Iris."

"Then it fell into my possession and I am giving it to you. Beyond what I have already said, it has many protective enchantments on it. And I feel that our troubles will only increase as time goes by."

"That is a good point. And my dizziness is making it hard to argue with you." Serenity lifted her hair to allow him to slid the necklace into place around her neck. "Thank you, Lyrius. I'll take good care of it."

"So long as it takes good care of you." Lyrius did the clasp and stepped back. "How do you feel?"

"Better." Serenity took a few steps, her stride no longer unsteady. "Dizziness has gone. And my nausea is receding. Like magic."

"Which it is."

"Oh hush and escort me to dinner, 'husband'," Serenity linked her arm through his. "I want to show off my new bling."

TTTTTTT

" _Welcome to_ _Duelist_ _Kingdom, one and all! This wonderful land of mine is yours to explore and enjoy!_ _Here, the history of the first King of Games started_ _and here were the duels that would become a legend!_ _Revel in it, buy cards, reenact those legendary encounters!"_ The life-size hologram of Maximillion Pegasus glanced around in wariness and then leaned down with a teasing grin, stage-whispering. " _Just be careful about straying from the embarrassedmarked paths! I may have forgotten about some of my booby-traps!"_

"This man is... unique." Lyrius concluded.

"He was a nice man." Serenity put in as they both watched the hologram statue repeat its message. "I met him a couple times when I was younger. At tournaments and stuff when I went with my brother or Yugi. I think he's only person in the world who made money off of being a troll."

"So he lived under a bridge and waylaid passersby for their goods?"

"Try again."

"Was a wild brute that ate livestock, was dumber than rocks and smelled like the pit it crawled out from?" Lyrius gestured at the hologram. "With a nice suit?"

"No."

"A thuggish being that likes to eat hobbits, bickering about how to make stew and turns to stone when faced with the sun?"

" _No."_

"The name for letting a fishing line drag out behind a boat as you reel it in?"

"No, a modern troll is someone who gets their kicks from misinterpreting statements or antagonizing like another individual-" Serenity caught the smirk on Lyrius' face and punched his shoulder with her metal arm while rolling her eyes. "Like you're doing now, you jerk!"

"It was amusing." Unbothered by the blow, Lyrius glanced around the rest of the entrance hall. Posters of famous and were everywhere and holograms of their associated duelists. Tourists were snapping photographs or watching the screens displaying various duels from watching Kingdom itself. A few were crowding around the snack stand and far more were crowding the card shop as a large sign on the window proclaimed it had cards you could only get on the island. "Why are we here?"

"We forgot to factor in exchange rates and inflation when we took the money to get it exchanged for yen." Serenity winced at the memory at the quite smaller stack of bills they'd were handed back after pushing their pile to the cashier. "And I wasn't quite paying attention when I bought our tickets, so our steerage tickets only get us to Duelist Kingdom and back again. If we want to continue to Vegas, we need to get more money so we can upgrade."

"Did you bring me along to intimidate people?"

Serenity swatted his arm playfully. "Listen, you. You are, at last ,getting over this angsting and brooding attitude you have and if you stay in the shadows and angst anymore, you will turn into a mushroom! And we've had a crazy few days, so why not just take the time while we have it and relax?"

"Very well. I suppose it would nice to duelwithout it being a hazard to our well-being." Lyrius held up his disk, eyeing with concern. The tray was bent, wires were showing and rust was everywhere. "And avail ourselves of some new ."

"Wouldn't hurt to get you some new cards, too. And while I love my deck, I wouldn't mind having a spare to experiment with. Half the fun of the game." Serenity pulled out her wallet and opened it, thumbing through the bills. "Well, if we buy two new Disks, we won't any money left. And even just buying one and some cards will set us back."

"What about selling some cards?" Lyrius pointed at a sign advertising a conventional hall in the Kingdom castle itself where people could sell, trade and more.

"Do we have any cards besides our decks?"

"No." Lyrius caught the dawning spreading smile on Serenity's face as her gaze drifted over to the card shop. "You have a plan."

"I have the _best_ plan. It's a gamble, but that just makes it fun." She started for the card shop, Lyrius trailing after her. "Do you know the best way to win at gambling is?"

"Skill, luck and intimidation?"

"No. You make yourself the house because then you can set the rules. And to make yourself the house, you need to have something everyone else wants." Serenity passed him her bag as they got closer. "Stay here and watch the stuff. That shop is standing room only."

Lyrius watched as she shouldered her way through mob — the woman was on a mission and would not stop for anything or anyone. Those she couldn't squeeze by or ignored her requests to remove often found an 'accidental' misstep of her metal foot landing on their flesh and blood ones. She reached the counter and the mass of people swallowed her.

Several minutes passed, and he was wondering if he should plan a rescue attempt when the crowd went silent, everyone's head snapping to the front of the store in unison like they were on puppet strings. He shifted, revealing Serenity's graying red hair in a gap as she was debating something with person manning the counter. They were pointing at various things behind and in the counter and she was shaking her head over and over in rejection.

After several minutes of this, the cashier called over what had to be his superior who once again started in with the bargaining, but Serenity just slammed her hand on the counter and shook her head.

Lyrius frowned. What was she buying? It was a card shop. Lyrius knew firsthand that many cards were so rare as to have an exorbitant price and given the touristy nature of will Kingdom, the cards there were even more so given they were collector's items. But they should have been happy she was spending money since she wanted something that wasn't kept on the shelf.

Several more minutes of arguing passed and then manager reached under the counter. He produced a lockbox. The curious crowd murmured and mill again, several gasps emitting as the manager unlocked the box and pulled a few items from it. Serenity accepted them and passed them the money. Turning to the crowd, she held up her purchase, light flashing off the foil packaging and said something with a fierce look on her face. The crowd reeled in surprise, then several determined shouts followed and they moved in on her.

That was enough. Lyrius knew firsthand that people often adopted a crowd mentality as the groups they were in grew larger and larger and they could be easy to incite into furors with just a few words. And when they did, people got hurt.

He swept up to the shop's door, pulling a few of the pack aside and tossing them away. Their protests collided with with a cold glare that silenced them and sent them scurrying back. Once he could get to the entrance, he slammed a fist into the metal frame so hard it dented. But the noise it produced was enough to cause the crowd to pause in wonder for a moment and he seized upon it, putting every ounce of regal authority he had once had into his next word. _"BEHAVE."_

Whether it was his sheer intensity, the hard look on his face, the supernatural chill that ran down some of their spines or the three mixed, the crowd listened. An eerie quiet filled the air as they all turned to look at him.

"Let the lady leave in peace." Lyrius took no small pleasure in this when several people flinched at his icy tone. It meant they were listening. "Theft is unbecoming of grown duelists."

"But... but she said she was gonna—" The protesting voice fell silent as Lyrius just glared in their direction. "I'll shut up now."

"Thank you." Lyrius could hear Serenity struggling to find a gap to get through. "Stand aside."

They shuffled, a small gap opening and vanishing as they bumped into each other.

Lyrius bit back a sigh. " _Now_ , please."

The crowd got the idea and just backed against the walls and aisles to allow Serenity passage. She was enjoying it, strutting with far more poise and grace than Lyrius had assumed she had possessed. With a flip of her hair and a hand-on-hip pose, she glanced over at the crowd. "Spread the word. One hour at the castle steps. If any of you are enough to take on this 'old lady', you'll be there."

With that, she slid past Lyrius and pulled on his hand to drag him after her. The crowd milled about once more when his gaze left them, but there was just enough quiet between moments to hear the shopkeeper shout 'Twenty percent off all purchases for the next hour!' And it built up into a cacophony of shouting for cards, arguing for packs and more.

Serenity pulled them over to a bench, sitting down with an almost manic grin. "Oh, that was _brilliant._ I couldn't have planned that better! You got their attention and got their pride going! They'll all be there!"

"Be there for what? What did you do?" Lyrius frowned as a pinging noise caught his ear and he realized it was coming from Serenity. Her metal heel was drumming on the tile. "Serenity, your legs are shaking."

"I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm just excited. I forgot how much fun this was!" She let out a giggle that was almost too happy. "We're gonna rake it in!"

"Serenity, what are you talking about?"

"I bought these." She unfolded her hands from her chest to reveal her purchase. Three gold and silver foil packages flashed in the dim light. "Do you know what they are?"

"Duel experiment card packs." He picked one up and turned it over with care. The packaging was devoid of any special details save for its metallic sheen and embossed lettering declaring it to be "Saviors of the World" pack. "What is so special about these cards?"

"Those cards are super rare and powerful because they're based on all the rumors and magical stuff that Duel Monsters have been in. Or cards that are too powerful to for the public when they are created. No, don't open them!" Serenity caught Lyrius' fingers in a metal grip. "Not yet!"

"Why?"

"The original printing of 'Saviors of the World' was limited, Lyrius. It never even got a press release or mention on Industrial Illusion's public database. But I know about it because the initial run of packs belonged to Yugi Mouto, Seto Kaiba and my brother for all they had done in saving the world. After about a decade, the packs were re-released. Except that they had new cards based off _their_ decks and weren't mass-produced. Only official Industrial Illusions card shops carried them, you have to ask because they didn't get a big press release and they're crazy expensive."

"Serenity." Lyrius' eyes widened. "Did you spend all of our money?"

"No! No, no!" She shook her head. "They're only about as expensive as the two would not we wanted."

Lyrius' felt his right eye develop a twitch. "You bought these rare, expensive cards. With most our funds. And I cannot open them to use them. Or re-sell them. Where is the gain in this?"

"You had to corral the crowd because I told them if they wanted them, they had to beat me in a duel. But, they had to either pay to play or give a tribute in unopened card packs." Serenity smiled in triumph. "By the time I am done with everyone who wants one, we'll be able to upgrade to first class with money to spare."

"But we only have three packs."

"Each one has three cards in it and just _one_ of those cards can be worth a small fortune to the right collector. Or the desperate. So we have nine chances. We lose over four, we cut our losses and look into reselling. If they want trades, we can demand whole binders worth of cards we can leverage into other things." She leaned back into the bench, still giggling a little. "I told you, the best way to win is to be the house."

Lyrius nodded after thinking it over. "The modern world is rather obsessed with Duel Monsters and I know of a few magical individuals who would pay us in supernatural means rather than monetary ones. The payoff could be considerable."

"It will be., Lyrius, I'm a former Pro Duelist and you're no slouch yourself. Between the two of us, we'll be just fine." Serenity's face was hurting from the smiling. "I haven't had this much fun since Mai took me globetrotting!"

"It is a sound plan. And it sounds like it could be very enjoyable." Lyrius 'hummed to himself. "It will also be the first time in recent memory I have done something without pressing need or danger on my heels."

"That's how you relax — you don't do something you need to do, you do something you want to do!" Serenity's grin was lopsided as she lifted a finger to waggle at him. "Doctor's orders…"

"Serenity?" Lyrius was smiling at her, a few strands of his mane falling over his face as he ran a hand through it. "I said it sounds like fun. Thank you."

"Yeah, you got it." Serenity felt the familiar flush of warmth up her neck and had to think harder than normal to make sure her tongue was forming words. "You smiled…"

"Have I?" Lyrius touched his cheek and then laughed at himself. "What an unfamiliar sensation. I would have thought I had forgotten how by now."

"Do it more often, yah? It's good for both of us." Grinning now for new and different reasons, Serenity stood. "Now let's go."

"To where?"

"Food. Why do you think I told them all one hour? I'm starving." She gave him a sheepish look and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "I'm also broke. Could you…?"

". I have some of my own with us. Food will not be an issue." Lyrius let out a little gasp as her lips pressed into his cheek.

"Thanks. Don't worry, once my plan works, I'll pay you back tenfold." Serenity gave herself a moment to watch as pink flushed the former king's cheeks and then darted for the exit. "C'mon, I want something deep fat fried and bad for our health!"

Lyrius watched her go, hand touching his cheek for a moment. He looked down at his fingers as if he could see the remnants of her touch on them. "Is this the feeling known as 'warm fuzzies'?"

"Lyrius, c'mon!"

"Apologies." Lyrius shook his head to clear his mind and went chasing after her.

TTTTTTT

Serenity's Rampage Berserk trumpeted in violent anger, sparks flying as its sawed tusks ground against the armored elf's sword. Behind them, a broad man with obnoxious yellow hair laughed as the elf shoved the mutated elephant away with ease. "Looks like you're out of luck! My Obnoxious Celtic Guardian can't be beaten in battle with monsters with over nineteen hundred attack points and yours has a lot more than that!"

He folded his arms. "And thanks to my A Feather of The Phoenix, I know on my next turn I'll draw The Warrior Returning Alive, letting me get my Spell Striker back from the graveyard. Then I can special summon him again, equip him with Grade Sword and then summon Gilford The Lightning to wipe out both you and your monsters in one hit!"

"Did you tell me your entire plan because there was no more room in your head thanks to all the stupid stuffed up there or did you think you were intimidating? Either way, you won't have your next turn to do it in!" Serenity snapped her fingers and one of her set cards flipped up. "I activate the trap card Raigeki Break! I discard one card and one card on your field is destroyed!"

The trap glowed, transforming into a bolt of power that shot across the field. The warrior raised his blade, but it was in vain as the blast tore through it and then the elf's chest. Her opponent gaped as his warrior shattered, but still managed a cocky grin. "It doesn't matter- your monster has already attacked this turn!"

"My Spellplagues are still here," Serenity gestured to the two pulsing mutated flesh pillars in front of her. "And they're reactors for my monster's abilities! By halving Rampage Berserk's attack points and destroying a Spellplague, it can attack again!"

Both of the pillars shattered and the man's eyes widened in fear. Rampage Berserk trumpeted a war cry and charged, a heavy swing of its head slashing the enemy duelist across the chest like a pair of broadswords. (LP: 0)

Serenity smirked and folded her arms as the holograms faded away. "That wasn't too bad, now was it? You made it to five turns."

"Don't you talk down to me!" The man growled, pointing a fierce finger at her. "Another round!"

"Sorry, one duel per customer," Serenity shook her head. "You haven't got enough money or cards to play again, anyway."

"Why you-" The man froze as he caught sight of Lyrius sitting at the table over Serenity's shoulder. Lyrius was sipping lemonade through a straw, but there was a look in his eyes that suggested it would be a bad thing if he someone interrupted that. "I'll be back!"

"You and everyone else I've cleaned out in the three hours," Serenity rolled her eyes and made a show of checking the time on her watch. "And that's a good stopping point! Sorry folks, the event is over!"

The gathered crowd milled to defy her proclamation, but Serenity made a deliberate show of shutting off her Duel Disk and removing it. People drifted away in ones and twos as Serenity sauntered back to the table. There was no exhaustion on her face even though she'd just soloed four duelists in a row, just a sense of triumph.

"I told you so," She singsonged to Lyrius as she threw herself into her chair and grabbed her drink, little umbrella narrowing missing her nose as she chugged half of it down. "The house _always_ wins!"

"You are correct." Lyrius nudged the large box they'd gotten off the concession stand with his foot. Duel Monsters card packs were piled around several full-to-bursting card binders shoved on one side while the remaining space was occupied by a newer model Duel Disk. "It has been a profitable afternoon, thanks to your talents."

"Thank you, Lyrius. It's always nice to land some appreciation." Serenity gave him a demure look, batting her eyes at him. "I could always use more well-deserved flattery in my life. Pray continue."

"Your hair flares like the mane of a majestic lion, a fire that illuminates the tender angles of your beauty. But it fails to compare to warmth and love in the molten amber of yours gaze that melts even the most frigid of souls, for that light is your compassionate heart. Its soft radiance shines through your smile and your touch with such brilliance that even the darkest, deepest shadows of my being evaporate like morning dew at your mere presence."

Serenity sighed in contentment, a lovesick look her face. "Oh, that's the good stuff right there. Where were you when I was still dreaming about when someone swoops in and sweeps me off my feet?"

He opened his mouth, but she reached across the table and shut it. "That was rhetorical. Don't answer it."

"Ah. Did you dream about that?"

"Eh, not in particular. Just went through a phase in my twenties where I thought I'd marry some strapping young doctor-type and have a successful career. But then I got wrapped up in my work, enrolled in the military to pay off my student loan debt and forgot about it." Serenity fiddled with the umbrella in her drink. "And being on Satellite made that kind of impossible, anyway."

"Is it something you still want?"

"I already got it, 'husband'," Serenity said with a teasing smile, but it faded when she caught seriousness in his expression. "Why so concerned about it?"

"You have done a lot for me and will do more. I wish to repay you for everything once our journey is at an end," Lyrius smiled. "And you are far too generous to send me a doctor's bill."

"Only because you're so broke," Serenity's grin returned. "But you know what I want? The dream that kept me going on Satellite, in the darkest of my days and saddest of my moments?"

"Enlighten me."

"I want to be queen for a day."

"Whatever for? Being a ruler is a monumental task and you have to devote yourself to the crown, not to your own whims. You are less of a person and more of a-"

"Ah-ah-ah! Don't be so literal!" Serenity waved her hands in front him to stop the onrush of logic. "Lemme explain."

"As you wish." Lyrius folded his hands in front of him. "I'll make myself seen and not heard."

"Good. Right. I didn't mean a _literal_ queen, though fancy new jewelry, clothes and a hundred servants at my beck and call would be _marvelous._ I meant I want pampering and enough spoiling to make me rotten for a day. Spent a long time taking care of everyone else, it'd be nice to have it done to me. Just someone to love and hold me and give me everything my greedy little heart desires. Make all my whims happen with a snap of my fingers." Metal sang as Serenity punctuated her point said finger snap.

"Mmmm." Lyrius stared into his drink. "I'll make that happen for you one day, Serenity."

"That's sweet of you, but we're short on resources for that." Serenity blushed, tucking some of her hair behind her ear. "What about you, Lyrius? What dreams do you have?"

"Beyond the obvious one? I cannot say I have anything like that."

"Well, a good way of combating depression is to find things that make you happy. And you could build on those things to get a dream. Helping people made me happy, so I dreamed of being a doctor. And then I made it happen."

"I am not sure what would make me happy. We do not have the means to afford to explore my whims."

"Well, they say money is the path to happiness." Serenity held up a handful of packs from their bin. "So let's go to the dealer's hall and get us some."

TTTTTTT

Just walking into the dealer's room grated on Lyrius' nerves. The crush of bodies milling about was as dense as noise they produced. It was impossible to isolate any individual speaker, and the crowd seemed trying to suck him like it was an amoeba — trying to consume his individuality and turn him into yet another fanboy who subsisted on Cheetos, soda and the thrill of glimpsing a voice actor.

He was thankful that Serenity was about done with the dealer. It had been the better part of an hour as the dealer had gone through all their cards and haggled with the doctor over prices or trades. The contents of the box had dwindled into a pair of large binders of rares and a surprising amount of money. More than enough for their upgraded tickets and spending in Vegas, given the broad smug grin decorating Serenity's face.

Lyrius swept his gaze over the crowd, trying to take in the varied menagerie of people. It was like pointillism. So many vibrant costumes - some he recognized as famous Duelists or Duel Monsters, others so unique and outlandish that they had to have been original ideas. Amidst the rainbow of hair colors, decorated plastic and facial markings, he did not stand out and barring the occasional glance their way, no one paid them any mind.

Serenity's arm threaded through his and he glanced over to see her smiling up at him. "Ready to go?"

"Are you finished?"

"Yep. Money's in the money belt and everything else is in here." She patted a zipped-up satchel hanging off her shoulder.

"Where did you get that?"

"The dealer. He threw it in after I gave him a binder of limited rares."

"Ah. Where should we go, then? Back to the boat?"

"It's just past noon, we can't go back to the boat, silly." Serenity leaned into his arm. "Let's walk around and explore the hall. See what's at some booths. Come with me, it'll be fun!"

Lyrius looked skeptical. "I have a sudden sense you want me along so you will have someone to carry your shopping."

"Well, since you're offering…"

Despite Lyrius' worries, they didn't acquire much. Most of what was being was in the vein of trinkets - posters, statues, display pieces, costumes and memorabilia wasuseless if you didn't have a home to store it in. But the doctor seemed to enjoy the socializing, pausing often to inquire about costumes and even coaxing Lyrius to take a photograph with two people dressed up as Yugi Mouto and her brother.

Lyrius found himself drawn the vast amount of Duel Monsters artwork that was everywhere. Fans and professionals were on display and the only thing bigger than the varying levels of quality was the sheer breadth of subject. They ranged from amazing close copies of very rare cards like the Blue-Eyes White Dragons to fanart of monsters and their duelists battling to strange things like Dark Magician arm-wrestling Exodia and a bunch of female monsters squeezing the various adorable versions of Kuriboh. He wound up getting funds from Serenity and purchasing a few smalls pieces that would fit in one of their binders.

"Didn't think you were into anything that kinky."

Lyrius lifted his head from the display he was looking at meeting Serenity's teasing smile. "Kinky?"

"Yeah." She pointed at the piece in question, which showed Dark Magician Girl, her dark-skinned counterpart and a female Magician of Black Chaos all sprawled together. The two magical girls were wearing scanty versions of their normal outfits along with a collar and a leash. And the Magician of Black Chaos, instead of clothing, wove herself in the leashes in such a way they strained to cover the bits. "Memories of your harem flooding back to you?"

"No. I was admiring the proportions."

"Like them racked and stacked, then?" Serenity gained a wicked grin, then lost it in an eye-roll as Lyrius gave her a quizzical look. "Good lord, you are no fun to tease."

"Mmhmm." Lyrius said as he resumed staring at the artwork. "The human body can be an exceptional difficult thing to draw and keep in proportion. To so such with skill is impressive. The amount of detail- the beads of sweat, the shadows along their curvature, innocent yet promising expressions of both lust and subservience; leaves me a touch envious."

"You know it's step away from porn, right? Meant to titillate and get you all hot and steamy."

"Why would I want to be aroused by a fictional character?"

"You are so adorable, you know?" Serenity just waved away his curious look and gestured to the contents of the black tent they were standing in. "You going to buy anything? I've got plenty of spare cash."

Lyrius hesitated. "You informed this was the adult store…"

"And you are a grown man. If you want to buy erotic art, go ahead. Just put a sock on the doorknob or something so I know you're busy in there." Serenity sighed good-naturedly as he frowned at her. "Then just buy it out appreciation for the artistry."

"What about you?"

"Oh, I'm a little past the age where sexiness is a big appeal. But I suppose it can't hurt to look." Serenity wandered over to a few longboxes labeled 'The Queens of Dueling' and paged through them as Lyrius made out his selections. They were erotic material, all of them wearing sexy versions of standard outfits. A few she recognized but none of them stuck out at her. And as a medical professional, all she felt when looking at them was those costumes had to be very uncomfortable and those poses would murder on their spines.

"Bring back any memories?"

Serenity jumped out of her skin and turned to find Lyrius standing behind her. How had he done that? "Memories? Of what?"

"You said you were a Professional Duelist. Do any of those pictures remind you of your rivals?"

"Oh, I didn't have many of those. I was a professional eliminator. My job was to work for the tournament sponsors and weed out duelists by tempting them with big rewards with high risk. I didn't take part on the circuit. But since you mention it…" Serenity flicked through the box of photos again and after a minute of searching, gave a crow of triumph. Pulling a picture free, she handed it off to Lyrius with a grin. "There you go. Yours truly."

Lyrius examined the picture and his eyes caught the name at the bottom of it and his eyebrow lifted. "Doctor Death?"

"Every good bad guy needs a cheesy name." Serenity grinned. "Now, come on, tell me how I look."

The eliminator version of Serenity was the polar opposite in personality than the kind doctor with graying hair and reassuring smile. Photo Serenity was sultry, wicked and a dark promise- sprawled out on white sheets scattered with blood-red roses and underneath the razor edges of the plague doctor mask, her smirk cut like a scalpel. Rich darkness of her black labcoat provided a perfect backdrop for violent electric blue underwear that revealed by whispers and suggestions of it was holding up, clinging to and fitting itself to.

"You look astounding. Threatening and beautiful like a viper, spiced by the fearful hope you may not strike those who get too close and painful lust that could happen if you do…" Lyrius said after a moment's thought. "Though no snake is as voluptuous as you."

"Thank you. You're laying it on thick, but you do it well." Serenity's cheeks were coloring, almost as red as the hair in the photograph. "I admit, I had a sadistic streak when I was playing eliminator. Liked to make my opponents squirm, shaving away at their life points instead of finishing in a crushing blow. So that was the image I wanted to go for in this shoot. I tried a lot of different things - there was one where I coiled up with a whip, one where I had a scalpel between my teeth, one where I had 'poison' dribbled over me from a triple 'X' bottle-

Lyrius lifted his head from the photo in surprise. "That seems very much unlike you to engage in such risque behavior."

"What can I say? I like playing with dangerous things." Serenity gave him a smoky smile. "My favorite was with the naked katana between my legs. It _may_ have sliced off my underwear…"

"You sound like you enjoy that kind of danger."

"Enjoy? No. I _revel_ in it, Lyrius." Serenity slid her fingertips down his arms in featherlight touches, staring up at him with half-lidded eyes. "Why do you think I like being with you?"

"I am a patient?" Lyrius murmured as he let himself fall into those brown eyes.

"Heavens, _no_. There are things I would love to do to you. ThingsI could never do it a patient…" Her fingers slid over his chest. " _Wrong, wicked_ things…"

"Do tell…"

"Weeeelll…" Serenity purred and pressed closer to him, then her searching hand snatched the photo of herself from his arms. Laughing at his surprised expression, she darted away and sauntered towards the clerk. "Stealing from you is a good start!"

Lyrius trailed after with an amused huff. "As is toying with my affections to see my reaction."

"Just making sure you don't leave your face in that permanent serious look you have. Don't want it getting stuck that way- as a medical professional, I can say it would be a bad thing." Serenity admonished with a finger wag.

"If that your professional opinion, then I believe I'd like to sue for malpractice."

"Sorry! Doctor's not responsible for the side effects of lost dignity or having an emotion." Serenity stuck her tongue out as she handed the clerk her money. Snickering at the blistering scowl she got in return, she accepted her change as she turned to the clerk. "Excuse me, do you have a pen I could borrow?"

"Uh, yeah, sure." The clerk fumbled around in one of the spare boxes, then produced a half-chewed pen. "Oh, sorry about the marks…"

"It's fine. Just don't chew on the ink tube like that, your tongue will be black for a month." Serenity accepted the pen and grabbed the photo. She stared at it for a moment, then grinned and scrawled over it. She wrapped it up with a flourish and passed it to Lyrius. "There you go, one signed copy by the woman herself."

Lyrius took it, examining the message scrawled in perfect cursive and couldn't help but chuckle. "'Prescription: One honest smile per day. Doctor's Orders. With all love, Serenity Wheeler, PhD'. This does not look like qualified medical reasoning."

"You're smiling nice Lyrius, so I'd say it's just perfect." Serenity grinned at him.

"Wait, you're Serenity Wheeler?" The clerk's rising enthusiasm drew their attention to him. "As in 'Doctor Death' Serenity Wheeler?"

"Sure am." Serenity nodded.

"But you went missing after Zero Reverse…" The young man's eagerness waned as he narrowed his eyes and then he glanced towards Lyrius. "Can I see your photo, please?"

Lyrius glanced at Serenity, who shrugged. But he passed it over all the same. "I will want it back."

"No problem. And sorry," The clerk flashed an apologetic smile at Serenity. "I believe you, but I want to check this out just to be sure."

"I understand." Curious, Serenity tried to peer over his shoulder as the clerk dug through a box of souviners, photos and other Duel Monsters memorabila. "Oh, are you going to match my signature to something else? Didn't realize you were a fan…"

"I'm a huge fan of eliminators - they really don't get enough cred with how good they are. Their loss-win records are better than some circuit Pros and they're so awesome, with all the costumes and effects." The clerk found what he was looking for, a deckbox and returned to the counter. Pulling out the contents, he thumbed through the stack. "Bear with me a sec…"

Lyrius and Serenity watched as the cards piled on the counter, leaning in to observe. They were all monster cards, and the doctor got a big goofy grin as she realized what they were. "Oh, you've got a signed Match Winners set!"

"Match Winners?"

"Yeah. See, Duel Monsters used to be played best two-out-of-three matches and so the Match Winner monsters say if you reduce your opponent's life points to zero with a direct attack with them, you win the match."

Lyrius frowned. "But Duel Monsters tournaments are single elimination."

"Right, but I2 had these guys in production already and they must have been someone's baby, because during the Battle Island Tournament all of us eliminators got a playset of one. Except the rules were changed - instead of winning a match, duelists could take us on in teams of three or less. That meant you could all win huge prizes and cards, but if we beat you with one of the Match Winners, _all_ of your team lost and we won prizes off of them. It was fun!" Serenity spread the cards wider over the countertop, still grinning at her memories. "Afterwards, we all signed our Match Winners, and they were auctioned off for charity!"

"Yep. But these aren't the originals - they're worth a buttload more cash than I could afford. These are replicas I2 made a few years back and reprinted as to celebratethe Battle City-style tournaments. The signatures are all laser-foiled onto the cards." The clerk let out a 'aha' noise as he found the card he wanted and flipped it around. "See?"

Serenity leaned in to get a better look. "King of Destruction - Xexex. Wow, my name is shiny on that thing!"

The clerk pulled the card and photo together, staring at them back and forth as he squinted. Then his expression became awe and surprise as he lifted his head to look at her. "It _is_ you!"

"Always nice to be recognized." Serenity said with no small measure of grace. "Did you want me to sign something for you?"

"Yes!" The word exploded out of the poor man. "No! But yes!"

"You want to try that again, with help files engaged?" The doctor prompted, beside manner kicking in.

"In two hours, I'm helping to host a panel of former Eliminators and Pros. There will be a Q&A sessions, then some career highlights and all kinds of stuff. And afterwards, we will sell memorabilia. If you sign some of it, then we can sell it for a higher price! I'll even cut you in at ten percent of everything we make off of your stuff."

Serenity took a step back, raising her hands to ward off the flow of words. "Dial it back a second. That's a lot of short notice and I'm not ready for anything like that, I'm just here to shop and have some fun."

"You'd meet a lot of fans, though. Even if you've been off the grid, you're still darn popular and it'll be fun. It's nothing serious - everyone as a good time and share some stories." The clerk persisted.

Serenity looked uncertain, folding her arms as she put some thought towards it. "I'm not even a professional anymore and I bet my deck is really out of date. And don't even have a Synchro or Tuner monster to my name…"

"You should do it." Lyrius said as he put a hand on her shoulder, ignoring the skeptical eyebrow he got from her. "It sounds like something you would enjoy and we have spent a long time lingering over my sordid memories of the past. It would rather refreshing to explore some happy ones. And I am curious about your varied, dangerously _seductive_ Duel Monsters career."

Serenity watched his eyes flick to the photo of her and giggle. But there was a concern on her wavering expression. "We have to catch our cruise ship back... and this is kind of sudden."

"It won't be a problem. Guest speaks get free accommodations and I guarantee the organizers for the events would love to the sister of the legendary Joey Wheeler as a speaker. They might even give you free room service, too." The clerk pushed.

"The profits would go a step further in paying for our expenses in Las Vegas." Lyrius put in. "In a city like that, one can never have too much money."

Serenity leaned in close to Lyrius, her voice low whisper. "Yeah, but I remembered I've been 'dead' for the last twenty years and stuck on Satellite! If I make a spectacle here, someone might put two and two together."

"Except you haven't been. You emigrated to America and married me, thanks to the Shadowchasers." Lyrius reminded her. "So there is nothing wrong with indulging yourself here." He smiled. "You have spent a great deal of time in the last few weeks dealing with my problems. And you told me I cannot progress on getting over my past by staring at it."

"So listening to me rant about mine is a good time for you?" Serenity huffed, but it became a grin halfway through. Turning to back to the clerk, she nodded. "You know what? I'll do it. If you think get this all arranged."

"Not a problem, trust me! You won't regret it!"

TTTTTT

"Did you ever beat Yugi Mouto?"

"Well, officially I never did. But there were more than a few home games where I'd come out ahead. And rub it my brother's face to no end. I even did it to Seto Kaiba once, and I got away with it, too. It helped that we were dating." Serenity paused as gasps erupted from the audience, but then grinned. "And by 'date', I mean he had an annual company physical, and I was the attending physician. Closest he ever got to a woman!"

The audience laughed and one member called out. "Are you sure it wasn't a real date? Didn't your brother accuse Kaiba of getting too involved with you during some tournament finals on live TV?"

"I was interning at KaibaCorp Medical for my degree and Kaiba just lied by omission to get my brother all riled up. As much as he insulted Joey, Kaiba had respect for his dueling skills. He wanted Joey trying his hardest." Serenity said with a casual air, but her wicked grin didn't disappear. "Being I was mad at Joey meant I didn't _not_ say I wasn't touching Kaiba's naked body…"

Lyrius couldn't help but smile as the audience erupted into laughter at the anecdote. The session had been going on for most of the last hour and Serenity had taken it all in stride. The other panelists weren't any duelists he was familiar with, but Serenity knew them well enough. All five of them had taken turns answering questions and building on each other stories as well telling their own. Serenity had had more than he would have guessed - she seemed to have rubbed elbows with every famous duelist. And beaten more than a fair few if the comments amount her record were accurate.

In all honesty, he had never seen her so alive. On Satellite, the doctor had always been business, crisp and efficient. Now it was like she had lost forty years and was a young woman again - laughing, smiling and enjoying herself. Her wit was sharp - few people who had met Seto Kaiba would have ever thought to joke about him with such a carefree attitude.

 _She told me she liked to live with dange_ _r_ _. And was rebellious against her brother._ Lyrius mused, kicking his legs up on the chair in front of him. The hall wasn't full and seated at the back, he had his pick of leg rests. _I wonder if there is any truth to her dating Seto Kaiba. The man seems like he'd be as dangerous as his Blue-Eyes when upset. And getting involved with him would incite to her brother and his fiery temper._

Iris had often done the same thing before their marriage all those centuries ago. Declare she was involvement with one powerful lord or lady, then turn her charms on another to pit them against each other. She had done so with the ulterior motive getting them both to exhaust themselves so she could move in and take over or crush one. But being she had an inordinate amount of glee in doing it sometimes, more so when they would erupt into shouting matches in the throne room. _Iris often said people made the best fireworks with the right fire underneath them. Serenity no doubt shares the same mindset for her brother._

Lyrius pulled his lemonade off the set next to him to take a drink. It was an odd variant of the standard drink- the warmer it got, the more bitter it was. Perfect for keeping someone awake or snapping out of the doldrums. Not that he was in any danger of falling asleep at the moment; the stories the duelists were sharing were engrossing, and he was entertaining becoming an eliminator himself. Not full-time, but it would be fun to just play Duel Monsters with no magical nonsense in the background.

People always compared him to the Batman character. Maybe there was something to that that could work for him. _It is such a shame capes have fallen out of fashion. I look rather fetching in them, even as Batman. Though I loathe gargling rocks to achieve that voice._

Like two icy fingers walking up his spine, a sudden chill pulled him out of his thoughts. He kept from reacting, though, even as the source appeared next to him. Luxurious like cream and sweetened by the French accent, the owner spoke. "Is anyone sitting here?"

"No." Lyrius didn't take his eyes off of the panel.

"Thank you." Moving Lyrius' drink further down, the man settled into the seat. It was almost offensive to have such an expensive-looking suit sit on a poor metal folding chair, but it didn't seem to bother him. "It's a good panel, isn't it, Mister Stormcloud? The way they talk about some of these duels, you'd have thought they were fighting a duel to the death instead of a card game!"

"If history is to believed, one cannot be a Duel Monsters champion without risking life and limb at least a handful of times anymore."

"Well said. That nasty business in Neo Domino has got a lot of folks focused on that Yusei Fudo lad. I bet my money he'll be quite the name in Duel Monsters in the next few years. Maybe even a household name, given his father helped develop the Momentum generators!"

"His fame will never dwarf yours." Lyrius gave the goateed man a sidelong glance. "In the circles behind the Veil, Jean-Claude Lessiux is man you think of when you want magical media. In fact, you are the _only_ man in that position."

"That took some doing and some crushing of competitors, but thank you for the compliment." Jean-Claude crossed his legs, hands clasped over the knee. "I'm surprised you know who I am in person."

"I know that as a media mogul, information is your stock in trade. And because you know my name, you know who I am and my history. Otherwise, you would not be here in person to talk unless you have something you want from me."

"It seems the rumors about your dislike of small talk are well-founded. Pitiable for a king to be so lacking." Jean-Claude seemed amused by the cool look Lyrius was giving him. "I'll cut straight to the chase. What I want is for you to retrieve the Well of Many Worlds tucked away in your old Palace."

"I own no such thing."

Jean-Claude snorted. "Please don't play me for a fool. The Shadow Queen spent ten centuries trying to escape that mountain by any means necessary and she would pass on getting ahold of the item that lets you create a hole between worlds?"

"Even if the Well were on Arcadia, that place is no longer my home and I cannot go there. Nor is there any guarantee it would be still there."

"Atop of not playing me for a fool, don't underestimate my resources and connections, Lyrius. I know the Well is still there. Your spawn think they have locked that Palace down tight, but more than a few treasure-seekers have found it their way in. The giant gaping hole created by the giant sword from the finals helps."

"Treasure-seekers in your employ, no doubt." Lyrius said, voice dry enough to count as sand.

"News is news. And discovering a treasure trove of artifacts long lost to history is great news."

"Why ask me if you have so many willing to collect for you?"

"There seems to be some... trouble in Arcadia. Not only to the Shadowspawn have an iron-fisted grip on media outlets there, my treasure-seekers who make it into the Palace keep disappearing." Now it was Jean-Claude's turn to speak like sand and give the sidelong glance. "Run afoul of one of the Shadow Queen's leftovers, no doubt."

"The Shadow Queen wanted to abandon that place as soon as she was free and it was far more entertaining an idea to watch the world fight over the spoils than leave traps and monsters." Lyrius shook his head. "Ask the Shadowchasers or find someone else. I will not go back there."

"Well, that is sad to hear, but I respect your decision." Jean-Claude leaned back into his chair, watching as Serenity and another panelist were standing up, showing the back and forth of a duel with hand motions. "I wouldn't ask you to do it for free. I bet you are just dying to learn about those dragons your wife left you."

Lyrius stiffened at the mention of what should have been personal information. "They are from Arcadia. If you have as much trouble as you imply there, you know no more about them than I do."

"Oh, but I do. I have connections you do not, such as knowing the head of the Planar Exchange Corporation as a friend. When you deal with the ogre-mage who can get you angel feathers straight from the heavens themselves, getting information on dragons from another world isn't that hard." Jean-Claude smiled as Lyrius narrowed his eyes. "Come now, you and wife conquered Arcadia centuries ago. An island with a flying city and magic unlike the world had ever seen. Even back then, it had to be clear that Arcadia was not native to Earth itself."

It _had_ been clear back then. That was why he and Iris had conquered it. Arcadia was the perfect place for their capital, laden with magic and trinkets waiting to be exploited. And when it had become their prison, they had spent many years trying to find out where it had come from in the hopes Iris could escape to that world.

Scratching the surface of Arcadia's secrets gave us a legion of demon warriors, dragons and more at our command. Digging deeper let us keep it hidden from the world at large for a thousand years and rule it as ours. To plumb the depth of Arcadia's knowledge could give me the strength to venture into the Abyss. Or even bypass it with no effort _at all._ The temptation was strong and Lyrius knew every bit of lore he got about his homeland could be the key to so many powerful secrets.

But his pragmatism overpowered the temptation. "Even for that, I will not go. Despite knowing what I know about the Palace and its contents, I am still only one man. The Shadowspawn have refuted my help and my presence. If I go there for personal gain, I will contend with an entire island baying for my head.

"It can be about more than the personal gain, Lyrius. You _must_ feel something for your home and people? There is something going on in the Palace, something dark and evil. And let me tell, you the Shadowspawn will not be enough to stop it." Jean-Claude snorted in derision. "They're too busy sticking their heads in the sands and trying to claw out of mommy's shadow."

Lyrius bit back the urge to ask if Eiliastraee had put the media mogul up to this. The drow goddess was fickle about her appearances and she wouldn't manifest to someone like Jean-Claude. Odds were good the man had verified this all on his own. Information was his business.

Jean-Claude noticed Lyrius' hesitation, but ignored it in favor watching the panel again. "You have a lovely companion, I hope you know. She's aged rather well and is quite well traveled, from what I've found. Such a good thing you got her off of Satellite so you and she could see the world one more time. Be a shame if that trip was cut short."

Lyrius turned a dark glare onto the other man, cold suffusing the air for the space of a breath. "Threats are a poor business practice, Jean-Claude."

"Me? Threats of violence are beneath me, Lyrius. Such a terrible way to make money and get ahead. No, I am referring to the fact you have enemies and dangers dogging your heels. The House of St. Cuthbert, the Knights of Domiel and those like them won't regard a traitor well. Not to mention I've heard Dracula herself is in a fury and looking for you, along with drow who serve the Spider Queen. Even a few followers of one six-fingered demon lord in revenge for his Shadow Queen's failings."

"And if I do not assist you, you will tell them where I am?" Lyrius asked, his tone harsh

Jean-Claude shook his head. "Oh no, you're old news, Lyrius. No one likes a tragedy, anyway. I'm only doing you a kindness by reminding you you've attracted a lot of attention of some dangerous folk. You're a tough customer, but you aren't human. And she is. She can't see behind the Veil. Or see the danger for what it is." He nodded at Serenity. "Early sixties, poor health from living in horrible conditions, and two metal limbs. She scraped by when human dangers threatened her. I shudder to think what a magical one could do to her."

Lyrius' fists tightened on his thighs as images of Weevil and the lich flashed through his head. His fingers tingled with the memories of being burned and blackened as he tore the burning rubble of the bar off her, screaming her name. A lump in his throat at the realization she was still breathing.

"A pity you won't accept my help about those dragons, Lyrius. They're rather interesting. Supposed to become more powerful over time, adapting to their owner's potential and changing shape. And they're not just for you, either. You can gift one to someone you're close to and if they tame the dragon, it can lend them strength." Jean-Claude clapped a bracing hand on Lyrius' shoulder as he stood. "But it looks like they're wrapping up. I won't keep you. But it was a pleasure talking to you."

"It was not on my end," Lyrius said, brushing the man's hand off his shoulder.

"Now, now. We had a talk about all of your enemies a minute ago." Jean-Claude's tone was frosty. To the point it was amazing ice didn't spill out of his mouth with every breath. "Wouldn't want to add that list by having bad manners."

He grabbed Lyrius' lemonade and pushed it into his hand, the CEO's fingers icy against Lyrius' own. "Here. Didn't want you to forget about it."

"Thank you." The words just about sheared off Jean-Claude's goatee with their sharpness, but the media mogul didn't see fit to acknowledge Lyrius' ire. With a smile and a nod, he swept around the chairs and vanished out of the room.

Lyrius watched him go. The casual arrogance of the media mogul only an extra sting atop the bitter truth of the words. Those thoughts had been simmering in the back of his mind ever since Satellite, along with Eilistraee's warning about Arcadia. He had been dismissive about both upon leaving Japan, hoping to fly under the radar and work on dueling. But it wasn't even a day later, and both warnings were being repeated.

 _I am missing being dead._ The thoughts soured in his head. _At least then I_ _was left_ _alone and the most I had to worry about was stargazing. Now the universe acts like now I draw breath, I must have nothing to do but cater to its designs. Like I am a rat in a maze and it keeps offering new cheeses._

The audience was rising to their feet, queuing in lines for autographs and more. Even in the forest of costumes and spiky hair, he could see Serenity flagging him over. Lyrius' good mood had long since depleted itself and he felt more of a desire to just vanish than to mingle, but it would insult Serenity to just walk out on her event. And he didn't want to worry her more than he already had.

He took a bracing drink of his lemonade and then quick spat it back into the cup at the overwhelming sweetness. He gave the cup a confused glance, its contents glittering in the room's lighting as they sloshed around.

When had his drink become frozen?

TTTTTT

There was an adage about the doctor who has herself as a patient is the biggest fool.

With her fingers in the guts of her arm, a light clenched between her teeth and an instruction book balanced in her lap, Serenity knew she was making herself a superb textbook definition of why that phrase existed.

Her new mechanical arm was working fine. But according to the instruction manual, she needed to do some routine maintenance checks for the first few weeks to ensure the arm was syncing with her body. With her older model arms, that meant opening panels, fiddling with wires and using a tiny tool to shuffle bits around. This newer model just had a tiny display tucked away near the wrist under a flap.

Everything read okay on the puke green display, but Serenity wanted to be sure. Phantom pains had be causing the metal limb to itch that defied being metal and no flesh since arriving on Duelist Kingdom and it would ease her mind if she could rule out faulty wiring. And she had been itching to see the inner workings of her arm, anyway.

Medical technology had made leaps and bounds in the last twenty years - her original arm had been lots of wiring and tiny, tiny gears wrapped in plating. Bare bones effort for a replacement. Her new arm, though, was sleek and professional. The wires were few, but strong-looking and the gears nestled in neat rows in the metal. Even the covering was leagues above the original- the manual had informed her that alloy used in the arms construction was shock-, water- and rust proof on top of being the same kind used in space shuttles reentry.

Testing her fingers was easier, too. Instead of fiddling with the main wires and risking damaging them, there were a series of nodes reachable with a tiny tool that slotted into the arm. She pressed one with a gentle touch, light almost dropping out of her mouth as her grin grew when the corresponding finger curled in on itself without her mental command.

She repeated the process on the others, first at random and then in sequence to ensure they could curl into a fist. _It's still freaky that I'm operating on my arm, but this thing reacts like one of the old-fashioned crane games._

There wasn't anyone else present to joining her freaking out. The little suite she and Lyrius had been given was tucked away in the corner of the castle and the halls had long since closed for the day. Her husband-but-not-really had left almost soon as they arrived and dumped their bags, claiming he wanted to find some strong opponents to test some of his new cards against. After flopping on the bed and nodding, Serenity opened her eyes to a dark night sky, a clock that read 10:00 p.m, and not much else to do but play with herself.

 _Now that's an idea._ She grinned at her reflection in the window. "Are you good with math, sexy?" She flexed her metal fingers in a 'come hither' gesture. "'Cause I got some digits for you."

Serenity snickered to herself as snapped the opening on her arm shut and fastened it back into place. "I think I've given new meaning to the expression 'go screw yourself, doc!' "

Giggling, she flipped through the manual to find the page she wanted. "Warning, failure to adjust arm tension may cause excessive vibrations!"

She couldn't help it - now she was cackling like a jackal. "Lubrication is essential for good finger movement!" The doctor fell out of the chair laughing.

Lyrius' concerned expression appeared above her. "Is there a reason you are impersonating a hyena on the floor? Did you have one too many drinks?"

"No, but take two and call me in the morning!" Serenity sniggered at his eye-roll, but grabbed his hand when he held it out to her. One firm pull by him and she was standing again. "How's your evening been?"

"Not as merry as yours. But eventful." Lyrius pulled off his Duel Disk, took his deck from it and tossed it onto their suitcases. "I managed five duels and won three of them."

"Good job." Serenity patted him on the back. "You've been gone for almost four hours, though. The duels didn't take up the entire time, did they?"

"No. Once night fell, I attended to Resonae. She is pleased that we are staying here for a few more days. There is plenty of small game and fish to eat and she much prefers having space to run around in and explore than the cruise ship."

"Has she eaten anybody yet?"

"No, but there have been a rash of disappearing ice cream cones when people aren't looking."

Serenity frowned. "Magical horse or no, that much sugar is not good for her."

"If you would like to explain to her why she can't have ice cream, go right ahead. It will be the last time you need your face before she bites it off."

"Okay, fair point." She sat down on the edge of the bed and poked him in the side. "C'mon. What else did you do today?"

"I attempted to collect some information, about upcoming events." He passed her a brochure he had scrawled some notes on. "And persons of interest who we want to meet and who want to meet you."

"Like that businessman who pissed you off during my panel?" Serenity asked, folding her arms when he didn't answer right away. "I'm old, not blind, Lyrius. You were extra-grumpy after that, so I want to know what went down."

Lyrius was pulling off his boots, undoing the laces with care. "That man is Jean-Claude Lessiux. He's an Aware human who owns Lessiux Industries. They are the largest Shadowkind media platform in the world."

"And he sat in on a panel next to you of all people?" Serenity scoffed at the notion. "What did he want?"

"He wants me to return to Arcadia and retrieve an item known as the Well of Many Worlds for him in exchange for information about the dragon cards I posses."

"Well, if he's doing magical news, I suppose wanting magical things isn't too far removed from that. But why did he do it in person? That's kind of like the President of the U.S. knocking on the door to borrow a cup of tea."

"That is what I endeavoring to find out. Jean-Claude is one of many high profile individuals here. Tomorrow, Industrial Illusions is auctioning off Duelist Kingdom."

"Wait - _what?_ " Serenity's jaw dropped. "They can't just auction of Duelist Kingdom like that! It's a monumental piece of Duel Monsters history!"

"It's also a monument. The upkeep for the island and the castle are extraordinary and this place's draw as a tourist destination never recovered after Zero Reverse so nearby and Maximillion Pegasus' death." Lyrius informed her. "Nostalgia will only carry a board of directors so before they worry about their pension funds."

"Well, what does a guy who runs a news network want with the island if it will not make him money?"

"I do not know, only guess. But given he also wants the Well of Many Worlds, perhaps he wants a private place to experiment with extra-planar travel."

"Which is…?"

"Leaving this dimension and going to another one."

"What other dimensions are there?"

"Various levels of Hell and the Abyss, the elemental planes of water, fire, etc. Various others."

Serenity gave him a disbelieving look. "So our world runs on the logic of Dungeons and Dragons?"

"Better to say Dungeons and Dragons runs on this world's logic. Gary Gygax did not invent the game out of just his imagination. He heard a lot of stories from some very interesting people." Lyrius countered.

"So did you say yes to getting this Well thing?"

"No."

"Because you don't want to go back to Arcadia?"

"Yes."

Serenity nodded. "All right. If you feel that's best, then I'm fine with it."

Lyrius paused, looking up at her. "You will not persuade me otherwise?"

"Nope. Like I said, Lyrius, you need to focus on you for. Not the whole mess of problems the big, wide world wants to drag you into., I'd love to see your home and all, but we only just got out of Satellite. I like kicking around Duelist Kingdom for, getting our feet under us and having some fun."

"Agreed." Lyrius said after a moment's hesitation and went back to rummaging through his satchel.

Serenity pointed a damming finger at him. "I saw that, husband of mine. That thought just flashed through your eyes. Between Rayearth, that drow goddess and Jean-Claude all telling you something is up on Arcadia, there's a piece of you nagging you to go back there and fix it."

"Is it wrong to think? As you are keen on reminding me, I was once a king."

"It's not wrong. But you are not in any shape to follow up on that. And? It's _not_ your problem anymore. You've already told the Shadowchasers and they'll follow up on it. You're not even king anymore, that went the Shadowspawn. If they're even half as tough as you tell me Iris was, they'll handle it."

Lyrius frowned. "The Shadowspawn are not capable rulers." Seeing Serenity frown at him, he continued. "Iris had them so she could have loyal enforcers, as well be able to pass through the barrier around the Palace with her blood so they could keep ancient magic working. I don't know why they became rulers of Arcadia when she and I lost, but they were just teenagers. The youngest was fourteen."

"Someone thought it'd be a good idea to put _children_ in charge of a _country_?"

"' _Meet the new king. Same as the old king_ ' Or at least familiar that people can cope with the change. Iris ruled for a thousand years. I doubt an alternative form of government crossed their minds. Or that ruling would be easy once they were out of their mother's shadow. Without realizing that it was the implied threat of her presence that made others follow the Shadowspawn." He offered her a weak shrug. "That was five years ago. From what I have heard, they are just doing as their mother did. Only with less torture in the dungeons and more card games and circuses."

Serenity threw up her hands. "Leave it to teenagers to think if they ignore problems enough, they'll go away. _Why_ aren't you there, giving advice and helping, then? If you worked for a god of order and justice, doesn't your nation from falling into chaos would have first pick on your chore list!"

"I attempted to, at least at the start. The Spawn did not understand who I was, but I could prove my claims. But I could not prove that I had no designs on the throne itself or restoring Iris to her status as Shadow Queen. They exiled me."

"You?" An eyebrow jumped into her hairline like it'd hit a trampoline. "Six teenagers got together and kicked you off the island?"

"They had magic."

"So? Lyrius, you had to have been in your prime back then. I've seen you fight. You could have taken them."

"They all had entire lives worth of hate, anger and misery at their mother locked up inside. And I was the next best target." Lyrius shucked his shirt before hanging it up. And trying to ignore the long curling scar that had come from Tyson's fiery grip. Or the ache he still felt from where Leopold had dropped a ton of earth on his back. Or the bit of his ear missing where Kurtis' howling winds had clawed at him. "They were young. Inexperienced. With too much reckless passion. They were out for my life. Defending myself would have meant killing them."

"Oh." Serenity was quiet.

"The Shadowspawn are my children. I could never kill them." He stared at the back of the closet. An image swam in front of him - a broken twisted helm under his fingers, blonde hair sticky with blood clinging to a weeping, battered face asking through torn lips why her father had killed her.

He closed his eyes against the image, the pain and the past. _Lyrissa…_

Warm flesh and cool metal yanked him back to the waking world, Serenity leaning her forehead against his shoulder blades. "You had to do that before, didn't you? Kill one of your children?"

Lyrius nodded. The lump in his throat threatened to crack his voice if he spoke.

"I'm sorry." She gave his waist a firm squeeze, her voice low and gentle. "It's not much now, but I am sorry you had to do that. But it was in the past. And the good man I call my friend is here in the present. Real. Kind."

Her cheek pressed into his bare skin, her arms pulling tighter and pineapple scents tickled his nose. "And I'm real, too, Lyrius. I'm not a dream. Someone still thinks you're worth loving, even if you don't."

"... yes. Thank you." He murmured, letting his hands fall over her own. "Is this another a lesson hugging, then? This does not feel affectionate."

"Yeah. This is a comforting, loving hug. I'm not expressing how happy I am to be with you, I'm lending you my strength. Trying to make you feel safe."

Had Iris ever hugged him like this? She must have, for he could still remember the strength in her arms, her scent. But he could not remember _why_ she had hugged him. He was her shadow, her champion. He had never needed to feel safe. Lyrius could defeat anything that dared to threaten his Queen.

Had she ever done that for him? There was no doubt she had. No doubt. None. But why couldn't he _remember?_

Why wasn't he safe from himself?

Something must have slipped free - a whimper, a tear, maybe just a shift in his posture - because Serenity was turning him around and her real hand was cupping his cheek so he'd look down at her.

"Your eyes hurt." Serenity couldn't stop herself from saying it. The blackness of his eyes was deep and cold. But not of anger or fury, but pain frozen by the realization that that pain would never go away. That there was nothing he could fight it. "Are you afraid to stop hurting?"

"Yes."

"It's okay to stop. The memories won't go away if you do. You don't have to suffer for them to be there for you."

"Is that your professional medical opinion?"

"It's my personal experience opinion. I've lost my world, too. So I know the pain can go away, too." Serenity blinked, her honey eyes warm despite the wetness forming there. "Even if it one day at a time."

"I do not think the hug is working." Lyrius was already reaching up to wipe away the fresh-formed tear. "We are both still rather sad."

"Yeah. We are." Her metal hand planted itself on his broad chest. "There's something else we can do besides hugging, though."

"There is something beyond a hug?"

"There is. A better version of human contact." Serenity leaned up, pulling his head down towards hers. "Stronger connection, too."

"And it will stop us from feeling sad?"

"It will be a very good start." Serenity breathed. Vanilla scents was everywhere, his eyes were drawing her down into their darkness and dark hair was spilling over his shoulders to shroud them both.

"This seems dangerous…" He whispered, but his heart wasn't in it. The words were just filled with heat.

"I like being with you because it is dangerous, Lyrius…" Serenity's heart was pounding in her chest and she swore she could almost feel his through his muscles beating like a drum against her metal palm. "This is why you will never be my patient... because a doctor can't treat this…"

"Then who?" His hand was sliding up her real arm so he could brace himself and she shuddered.

"A lover…" She felt softness as his lips brushed her own and somewhere inside her, something rattled loose and pushed out a moan.

Then he was straightening, snapping his fingers in sudden realization. "I recalled that interpersonal connections can be more than physical and I got you a present while I was out. Apologies for the delay."

"Wha - you -I -" Serenity could only stammer through her paralytic shock. Then anger tore her shock to shred, and she stomped on his foot with her metal one. "YOU TROLLING ASS!"

"You did teach me the meaning of trolling earlier!" To his credit, Lyrius did not erupt into outright laughter or wince in pain. The only concession he gave was to smile enough to pass for a Cheshire Cat and take a step back out of range. "I promise you, this gift is far more appropriate for our situation."

"It better be the goddamn deed to Duelist Kingdom so I can be queen for a day!" With a vicious snarl, Serenity grabbed a pillow from the bed and hit him with it. "And the first decree I'm making is that I get to hurl you off of the tallest tower into the goddamn ocean! Then I'll see if Pegasus kept a working guillotine around here!"

Lyrius darted out of the way of the murderous pillow and grabbed his satchel. He dug through it, holding it up like a shield as Serenity growled and took a step towards him with her weapon raised high. "I promise, you will stop being mad at me once you see this gift!"

Serenity scowled at him, but relented and hugged the pillow to her chest. "If I'm not, you're sleeping in the hallway!"

"That will not be happening." Lyrius pulled out a framed photo. "I spoke to what must have been dozens of collectors and duelists to find this on the island. But consider it a thank you for all you've had to put for my sake in the last month."

Serenity eyed him, then tossed the pillow aside and grabbed the photo. Her gaze fell upon the subject and her anger vanished into a blink as she realized who it was of. "Lyrius, you didn't!"

It was of her sexy 'Doctor Death' persona luxuriating in another woman's arms. But whereas the good doctor was sexy due to concealment and teasing, this blonde was all about exposure. Purple short-shorts clinging too tight, a corset lifting up and up - even her butterfly wing mask drew attention to her full lips and smoldering eyes. "This is of me and Mai! Lyrius, how did you know about this?"

"The clerk from earlier was more than happy to tell me more about the magazine those photos were for. Miss Valentine once graced the cover, and I recognized her name from some of your belongings when we were packing. I wanted a photo of her, but there weren't any in stock. The clerk gave me the name of a collector who was visiting and I built my chain of duels and deals from there."

"You didn't have to go all that trouble for this." Serenity's smile was threatening to split her face, but she didn't care. "Mai dressed as Harpy Lady or an Amazon, I think this was the only shoot where Madame Butterfly appeared. Is that how you got the one with both of us?"

"The collectors were keen to show that photo off. The two of you were more famous than you realize. I could have gotten several of them, in fact. But they weren't enough to repay you. I found what I was looking for though." Lyrius was smiling almost as big as Serenity though his was far more expectant. "Turn it over."

Serenity did so and her face lit up, a giant squeal erupting from her. It was loud enough that another scale higher would have cracked the window. "You found one copy we both signed! ' _With all love to my favorite redheaded doctor, may your enemies always curse your name and may all your lovers curse mine! Hugs and kisses - Mai Valentine_!"

"So I take it this makes up for my transgression a few minutes ago, then?"

"Oh, I'll get you for that later, but you're safe for now." Serenity shot across the room to wrap him in a bone-crushing hug. "Thank you so much, Lyrius!"

"Welcome, but... my ribs…!" Lyrius wheezed.

She released him, almost bouncing from foot to foot as she giggled down at the photo and read off her own words. "' _For the woman who inspired me to chase my dreams and take no prisoners, this doctor prescribes a healthy dose of in the bed and a bigger dose of their wallets!' - Serenity Wheeler_!"

"I even bought a fashionable traveling case to store it when we leave." Lyrius waved the small leather folder, then gave up as she continued to grin. "You are not listening."

"No, I am not!" Serenity threw herself backwards on the bed, kicking her legs with another squeal as she hugged the photo to her chest. "I can't believe I'm seeing one of these again! That shoot was over thirty years ago! I wanted to sign more, but we had to do our separate shoots and we only had time to... to…"

"Serenity?" Lyrius watched her with concern as her happy mood just cut out like someone had flipped a switch.

"Lyrius, who did you get this from?" Serenity shot upright on the bed so fast she about fell off it, her eyes zeroing on Lyrius.

"A collector was willing to trade it for others I had-"

" _Which_ collector!" She darted off the bed, almost pinning him to the wall in her eagerness. "Tell me!"

"Why is that suddenly so important?"

"Because you shouldn't have been able to get this!" She shoved the photo into his face. "Mai and I only signed five things! We both kept one, and we gave one to my brother! But he and I lost ours in Zero Reverse and one other is sitting on a Wall of Fame in my favorite diner in the States!"

"But that would mean that this one is the fifth one or the one Mai kept."

"No! Mai kept two, but only hung one on her wall! The last one she said she would give out when she felt like it! But I know for a fact that fifteen years ago, she had this in a safe deposit box and it wasn't with her when she was on Satellite!"

"That means she had to retrieve it at a later date…"

"Which means she's still alive! The collector you got this from might tell us where they saw Mia last! Or at least point in the right direction!"

"I got it from a collector of gemstones whose is staying two floors up. Room 321." Lyrius watched as Serenity leapt over the bed and bolted from the room at speeds that would make a rabbit jealous. "Serenity, wait! She's not human- -"

But the door was slamming shut behind her.

TTTTTTT

Serenity burst out of the stairwell at top speed, thanking whatever god had prompted her to buy new shoes with her winnings today. Otherwise, she would have gone sliding across the smooth stone floor into the way as she rounded the corner.

And slammed into - and bounced off of - Lyrius. "Goddamnit!"

"Say it a touch louder, Serenity. I do not think the entire pantheon heard you." Lyrius said, catching her arm before she could hit the floor. "Are you all right?"

"Yes, I'm fine."

"You are breathing hard. It is a little concerning."

"Yeah, well, I'm ignoring the fact I'm almost sixty right now." She leaned on him for support though. "How did you beat me up here!? Magic!?"

"There was an elevator."

"Well, now I'm tired and stupid." Serenity rolled her eyes and shouldered past him, eyes scanning the door numbers. "You said 321, right?"

"Yes, but I feel there is something I need to tell you-"

"Lyrius. I'm aware that this might be nothing but a wild goose chase and my high hopes will crash and burn with such a spectacle it'll be right up there with the Hindenburg footage." Serenity gave him a pleading look. "But I need this okay? I need to do something for me and not my patients."

"That is not what I wanted to say, but thank you for having common sense. What I wanted to tell you was-" Lyrius gave up as she found the right door and knocked hard on it. "Please. It is not like I could have anything relevant to inform about the woman I got this from."

"Unless she's my long-lost twin sister or my brother undergone some radical changes in his life, it can wait." Serenity informed him and then knocked again.

"Serenity-"

"Is it either of those things?"

"No. However-"

"Then I don't want to hear anything right now-"

A scream erupted from the room.

Lyrius shoved Serenity behind him and a hard kick sent the door banging open. "Wait here!"

Serenity ignored him and chased after him in the room. Her eyes went wide at the contents. "Oh my god!"

The room had been ransacked by someone on a mission - clothing and damage was everywhere as the perpetrator had torn into the furniture in their quest. A mass of red hair was doing little to cover the pale-skinned body of a woman, her expression twisted in horror. Teal liquid and blood dribbled out of a wound in her neck.

And underneath was a bespectacled man who looked like he'd dressed blindfolded and was struggling to get the body off himself. He caught sight of the two and managed a weak smile.

"Voltaire!" Lyrius thundered, his expression morphing into a heavy scowl.

"Lyrius, it's not my fault, I swear!" The man put his hands up in a panic, then paused. "Okay, _this_ time it's not my fault!"

TTTTTT

 _A/N:_ _Thank god it's over. I can rest, I can relax…_

 _Oh wait, I got married since last time. And now have hyper fangirl wife kitty running around the apartment begging for the next chapter. There's no way to resist those big sweet eyes, either…_

 _Time to buckle up and get down to business again_

 _Next time, a murder mystery leads to a figure from Serenity's past and the good doctor sees a glimpse of what lies behind the Veil. And what happens when it looks back..._

 _Duelist Kingdom: The Monster Behind The Curtain!_


	10. Duelist Kingdom: The Monster Behind The

Kintsugi  
By 7th Librarian

 _A/N:_ _So many thanks to my darling wife, Mei-1105 (Go check out her story Something Borrowed! It's amazing!) and my bestie fanfic friend, Metal Overlord 2.0 for taking the time and effort to co-write this with me. Thanks to them, not only did I finish this on time, but it is far superior to anything I could have written on my own! Thanks a bunch!_

Chapter 10: Duelist Kingdom: The Monster Behind The Curtain

"What do you mean, he's not a killer?" Serenity, unable to believe her ears, pointed a damming finger at the bespectacled man sitting on the edge of the bed.

Serenity certainly couldn't recall seeing a more suspicious looking person. The young man was so pale his skin was almost like porcelain, and his clothing consisted of a long coat and wide brimmed hat all done in black. A pair of bright green eyes regarded her with something approaching bemusement behind a pair of blood red tinted glasses.

"The only thing Voltaire kills is time and patience." Lyrius was blunt, though more from annoyance at Voltaire's presence than trying to enforce his opinion on Serenity. "He's a Shadowchaser. Killing an innocent is beneath him."

"Also, my would-be victim is not dead. Just missing their soul." Voltaire put in, somehow not noticing the sharp look Serenity was gave him. He lifted his upper lip to reveal normal looking teeth. "And as much as I like to nibble on a lady's neck from time to time, I don't have the canines to make that puncture wound on her neck."

"Voltaire, be quiet." Lyrius snapped and folded his arms at Serenity, noticing the glower she was giving him. "You do not believe us."

"No!" Serenity threw up her hands. "I am a medical professional, Lyrius! I know what a dead body looks like! Especially once with a lethal wound on her jugular! On top of having no pulse, no reaction in her pupils and not breathing, I'd say that makes her a murder victim!"

"And her soul being taken?"

"I know what that looks like, too. It happened to a lot of people I care about. The victims of that are rendered comatose and their bodily functions slowly being to shut down, leading to death." Serenity informed him. "And it's still possible to kill someone when they're like that, so that doesn't get him off the hook!"

"Approach it from this angle. That woman is an undead being, a vampire. Ergo, her lifesigns would be nonexistent anyway. As such, having her soul removed would render her body in a state of suspended animation until it was returned."

"You can't just…" Serenity broke off, looking thoughtful. "Right, my world consists of magic now. I've seen Duel Monsters come to life, dueled in a Darkness Game and stuff. So your theory is plausible. Prove it to me."

Lyrius reached to the body and carefully peeled back the upper lip to show a pair of sharp canines. "Is this enough?"

"People can sharpen those with files." Serenity shook her head. "I'm going to call Security."

"I can dispel your disbelief." Voltaire piped up, sliding off the bed and carefully stepping around Serenity and the body. He walked over to the bathroom door and pulled it open. "Take a look, miss."

Serenity glanced at Lyrius, who just nodded and then she moved to the door and poked her head inside. Her eyes went wide. "What."

The bathtub was filed to the brim with pale, ugly soil. Serenity recoiled as the smell of dirt, ash and death hit her, stepping back and holding her nose. "Oh my god, what is that?!"

"Gravesoil." Voltaire seemed all too eager to explain. "You see, most young vampires need to sleep in soil from their burial plot if they're 'born' that way. It somehow helps them recharge their necromantic energies and avoid the need for blood, while I suppose it's also symbolic of the fact that even the powerful undead will eventually return to the primordial dust. There is probably some kind of 'womb' motif there, being undead and all and having been 'born' in their grave. Bit sweet, if you ask me. Mother Nature loves even her problem children. Why, I-"

"Enough." Lyrius' hand clamped over Voltaire's mouth like a vice as he regarded Serenity. "Do you have any more doubts?"

"Plenty, but I believe that she's a vampire now." Serenity retreated to the relative safety of the room itself. "And you were trying to tell me that _before_ we found her body and Voltaire in here and I wasn't listening to you. And you haven't lied to me about anything related to magic yet, so why start there?"

"Good." Lyrius glanced over to Voltaire while removing his hand. "Though that does not explain the scream we heard."

"That was...that was me." Voltaire was the picture of sheepishness. "I met the lady over lunch and she invited me back to her room tonight for some adult recreation. I found the door unlocked and when I was unable to determine her whereabouts, I went snooping. And opened the closet. And her body fell on me."

Despite the situation, Serenity snickered at him. " 'Adult recreation?' You realize that we're all grown adults here, right?"

Voltaire drew himself up. "It is rude to bring up sexual matters in front of a fair lady."

"I'm a doctor. I've seen more 'sexual matters' than you've ever dreamed about. And with the lights on, too." Serenity added with a grin as Voltaire spluttered. "Goodness you're bashful."

"I should have known it was you from the scream. You emitted the same noise when you found those boots on sale on our date." Lyrius muttered, ignoring the curious, confused look Serenity gave him and going back to the body. "Did you get her name, Voltaire?"

"Yes! This is one Sally Bartlett. She specializes in the buying and selling of magical gemstones."

"Gemstones?" Serenity was confused. "Lyrius, you bought a cheesecake photo of my eliminator self off of her. Why would she have that?"

"You do photos? And were an eliminator? Oh, where you in _Topdeck Monthly_ back when it was still running? I have some old issues I'd love to get signed-" Voltaire let his questions fall off at the flat look he got from her and cleared his throat. "Right. Miss Bartlett is a big fan of Duel Monsters and of the Battle Island tournament in particular. She was a participant when it happened and came here to add some new items to her collection. As well as finalize some gemstone trades with the high rollers moving about."

"Find the gemstones." Lyrius was kneeling next to the unmoving Bartlett, carefully examining the teal liquid staining around the punctures on her neck. "Now."

"They won't be in here, Lyrius. Too risky. Big conventions like this always have some crime happening." Serenity shook her head. "They're probably locked away in the castle vault."

"These stones will be here in this room or on her person." Lyrius began patting her down gently, feeling over the folds of her jacket and collar.

"What makes you so certain?"

"This room was ransacked by Sally's attacker. Voltaire did not notice because the lights were off." Lyrius was patting his way down her leg. "But the teal around her neck is liquid Orichalcos. Someone was looking for any she had."

Voltaire's eyes nearly doubled in size behind his lenses. "Liquid Or-oh for the love of Shub-Niggurath why is it never anything simple?" He took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose as if to ward off a headache.

"There's still Orichalcos?" Serenity paled at the thought.

"Not to the extent that were likely to see an encore of what happened during the Paradias incident thankfully. That being said, Orichalcos in any concentration is the equivalent to weapons grade Uranium. I've seen first hand what it's capable of in the hands of someone looking for more than a broken Field Spell, so even the traces that are still in existence are no small concern."

"Power like that draws many to covet it and it is certainly something you do not advertise as having." Lyrius suddenly stood and gestured at Serenity. "Undress her."

"Excuse you?" Voltaire balked a little. "Lyrius, I don't think it's necessary to go that far."

"No, he's right." Serenity pushed past Voltaire to kneel next to the body, fingers undoing the buttons of her blouse. "If you're going to hide a gemstone, then sewing it into a bra or something would be perfect. Or even just a small incision and a pouch inside their skin."

Lyrius couldn't help but ask. "You are speaking from experience?"

"Yep. Did an autopsy once. Thought the guy had had a bad rash on his armpit. Turns out he'd cut it open and stuffed a baggie with a few grams of meth in there to get it past security." Serenity lifted her head to give both men an eyebrow raise. "Go dig through the dirt or something. I'll let you know when I'm done."

"Right-o, then." Voltaire grabbed Lyrius by the arm and pulled him into the bathroom. With a little maneuvering in the cramped space, he managed to get the door shut. Shuffling around, he managed a little grin when he found Lyrius' stoic expression barely a handspan away. "Bit cramped, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"I'm surprised I ran into you here, Lyrius. Last I heard you were still working down in Brazil." Voltaire pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "How did that little venture turn out?"

"Well."

"Alright, I can tell you're not in a good mood because your words are so clipped that I could put them in a window box and display them at the Chelsea Flower Show." Voltaire shook his head bemusedly. "I didn't think our time together was so bad that you'd dislike me for it…"

"Not relevant." Lyrius' sharp tones cut him off. "Voltaire, why are you here? Did Jalal send you to watch over me?"

"What? No, I'm here following up on a lead on another case. Jalal didn't send me! I swear!" Voltaire added hastily at seeing Lyrius' eyes narrow. "I didn't know you were on the Duelist Kingdom!"

"You are lying to me."

"I haven't reason to!"

"You glanced off to the right when you said you didn't know I would be on Duelist Kingdom." Lyrius pressed onwards at Voltaire's groan of defeat. "Rayearth told you."

"Yes. She knew I was here and dropped me an FYI that you and Serenity would be passing through on your way to Vegas." Voltaire admitted. "But she didn't ask me to spy on you, Lyrius."

"No, because your well-meaning canoodling would lead you to get involved in things you shouldn't." Lyrius pointed out. "You have a bad habit of rushing into things thinking you can play heroic knight."

"What would you expect me to do when someone I care about has been involved in some serious danger and tried to throw his life away by trying to Falcon Punch Godzilla in the face?" Voltaire hissed back. "Just sit there and let you?"

"Yes."

"No! I'm not going to do that!" Voltaire held up a finger to forestall Lyrius' rebuttal. "And don't you dare start saying I'd have hunted you down just to meddle. _You_ are the one attacking me right now!"

"If I do not, then you will meddle!"

"Because I care, you handsome fool! You lead a dangerous life and do not make an effort to take care of yourself while living it! This Serenity you're with, she's not even an Aware! Do you even realize how dangerous that is? The risk you're putting her in?" When all he got was a tight look in response, Voltaire narrowed his eyes. "Or are you keeping her around because she's an emotional crutch?"

"If I am, it's because I would like to see how that relationship functions when I'm not the one who is the crutch!" Lyrius growled. "Or did you forget how you 'needed' to save me, Shadowchaser?"

The practically crackled with tension as the two men glared at each other.

"Hey, boys, I've got something out here!"

Then tension evaporated and both men looked away. "Apologies."

"I wasn't thinking, either."

Awkwardness replaced the tension, thick in the small bathroom and then Lyrius was reaching past Voltaire to get the door open.

Serenity watched the two emerge, concern on her face. "Are you two alright? I heard a lot of loud noises."

"Personal problems." Lyrius cut her inquire short and followed up with his own. "What did you find out?"

"There wasn't any stones in her clothing. But to be thorough, I checked her mouth again. And find that she had a bunch of odd fillings on her back teeth. Turns out the teeth are fake." Serenity held out her open palm, revealing five teeth. All of them rounded off with a small teal stone that was glowing with a faint, malevolent light. "I've never seen them this small."

"She probably broke a larger piece into smaller ones. More profit that way. You only need a tiny one to make a Seal card work or to collect a soul." Voltaire picked one up, holding it between thumb and forefinger. "I can't believe I had my tongue in her mouth and never even noticed."

"So who was she going to sell them too? There are well over a hundred Shadowkind on this island, it could be anyone of them."

"I know who." Voltaire's face was grim as he regarded the glowing tooth. "The vampire Castiel. He's been using the Orichalcos for decades to try and take revenge on the Shadowchasers for failing his race. I ran into him a few months back and destroyed his stock of stones. He must have come here hoping to get more."

Lyrius' expression was dangerous. "Then we need to find and remove him."

"But there was at least an hour between you buying that photo and Voltaire coming to Sally's room. He could be long gone by now." Serenity said.

"No. There are no ships leaving the until dawn and Castiel has no magical way of leaving the island. Otherwise, he wouldn't have bought a cruise ship ticket here. And when the sun comes up, he's going to have to hide in the castle. There isn't any other shelter on the entire island." Voltaire returned his tooth to the pile in Serenity's hand. "And he wouldn't leave without his magical glowing rocks, either."

"Do you have a method of tracking him?" Lyrius folded his arms, mind already working on the problem.

"I don't have anything of his, so scrying him won't work. But he's still wearing that Phantom of the Opera mask to hide his face - even the Veil can't hide what he's done to it. Security cameras would work, but I doubt asking nicely would let us see them."

"Nor do we have the time to sit and shift through all of the footage. What about tracking him through his Duel Disk?"

"He's probably running off a stolen one. And he's not stupid enough to play the Seal of Orichalcos card on an island. The giant green circle descending from the sky would light the night up like a giant 'Come and get me!' sign." Voltaire glanced down at the comatose vampire. "Miss Bartlett would be our best lead, but she's unable to give us anything."

"But why did he attack her if she was going to sell him the stones? And why would she refuse? It isn't like she can find other buyers for something so dangerous. And she knew you were a Shadowchaser. Best to get rid of the evidence."

"Unless she was planning to drain my soul for him. But that just raises more questions as to why he'd attack if they were working together." Voltaire shook his head. "I'm afraid we're at a dead end."

"Death is never the end, just the beginning." Lyrius knelt next to the vampire and cupped her chin gently, other hand hovering her face. "And they like to tell tales…"

"What?" Serenity frowned in confusion. "Lyrius, we've already broken every major investigative rule in the book with this. Please don't tell me you're going to read her mind, too…"

"No." Lyrius' eyes were suddenly flooded with black while a low, ugly hiss wove itself into his voice. _"Speak With Dead."_

Serenity felt goosebumps crawl up her arm and the hairs on the back of her neck shot straight up in response to the chill shooting down her spine. Her eyes widened as the vampire's eyes fluttered, then open to gaze at the ceiling with a slack, blank look. "What...did you just do?"

"Necromancy. That little number lets him commune with the soul of a dead person. It wouldn't work on a person with their soul removed because their body will still be alive. But a vampire is _always_ dead, so he should be able to learn a lot from her." Voltaire explained with a smile. "Wish I'd thought of it."

" _Can you hear me?"_ Lyrius' new voice was frightening to Serenity's ears, so snakelike she felt her skin crawling.

"Yes." The word was flat and robotic without any life into and Serenity flinched a bit. It felt so wrong to see her mouth move without her face doing the same.

" _Who attacked you?"_

"Castiel."

" _Why?"_

"He wanted the Orichalcos stones, but was not willing to pay my price."

" _How did he take your soul?"_

"I do not know."

"Well, that's frighteningly bad news for us…" Voltaire muttered. "Last I saw him, he still had to take souls via winning them in a duel with the Orichalcos. If he's managed to figure out to way to do it without that, we aren't even going to be able to close to him."

Serenity shivered and glanced down at the stones still her palm. The revelation made them all the more sinister in their apparent innocence. Their glow was almost mocking her with the power they possessed, whispering of the inevitability that were going to take her soul, too.

" _Where are you?"_

The mouth moved, but no response came out. Lyrius frowned in concern. _"Where are you?"_

"...in...the dark…" The voice echoed, straining to be heard from far away.

Lyrius and Voltaire exchanged worried glances, then the dark-haired man looked back at the vampire. _"What is happening to you?"_

Another noiseless answer.

"I take it this shouldn't be happening." Serenity whispered.

"You mean on general principle, or in the case of we are experiencing technical difficulties at this time? In either case no. He should be able to get answers out of her as long as he can maintain the spell. I've never seen a case where the subject fails to respond or can't be heard." Voltaire was biting his lower lip. "They can refuse to talk to you, but that just means the spell fails."

Lyrius' face was tight in concentration, the darkness in his eyes surging for a moment. _"What is happening to you?"_

" **I happened."**

Serenity nearly jumped out of her skin. The voice coming out of the vampire's mouth was impossibly male. "What the hell!?"

Voltaire's lips peeled back as he bared his teeth. "I'd recognize that voice anywhere. Couldn't resist gloating over your handiwork Castiel?"

" **And what measure of victory do I possess here? Skulking about this wretched island with only a handful of souls to my name. No, I am merely taking this opportunity to try a little experiment."**

Lyrius shot Voltaire a look. "He should not be able to hear you. You aren't the spell's caster."

" **It is just as surprising to me as it is to you, mysterious human. But the Orichalcos has proven itself capable of performing the unexpected before. I felt something pulling at one of my captive souls and out of curiosity, I reached out to that soul and squeezed."** The lips curled into a smile that was so eerie Serenity backed up until she hit the desk behind her. **"We can compare it to two tin cans and a piece of string, I suppose. You have the body, I have the soul and we're pulling it taut."**

"Where are you hiding, Castiel?" Voltaire demanded. "You know you can't leave this island before I find you, so why not show some of that noble vampire honor and face me?"

" **Predators only honor their prey after they've eaten their fill, Voltaire."** The voice was amused and mocking. **"You're barely a mouthful as it is.**

"Something about hearing a woman say that is making me deeply insecure as a man," Voltaire muttered under his breath, his cheeks coloring as despite the situation Serenity snorted. He glanced over at her as she smiled at him briefly, thankful for a moment of levity.

Lyrius was staring determinedly at the vampire's body, sweat beading on his brow and the darkness in his eyes deepening. _"_ _Atem_ _er_ _em_ _shesum_ _…_ _.atem_ _er_ _em_ _shesum_ _…"_

" **What?"** The vampire's voice suddenly warbled between male and female, near and far. Like trying to find a radio signal. **"Oh, very clever. You're trying to reel her in back to her body."**

" _Shesum_ _ineibis_ _et_ _ar_ _sum…_ _._ _sum et_ _ar_ _deste_ _…"_ Lyrius' fingers were trembling now, the strain showing on his face ever so slowly.

" **No…"** Castiel sounded intrigued despite himself. **"You're exorcising her soul to force it to move on. I felt it just now..** **.** **the wind of your magic tugging at the flame of her soul, trying to scatter it…"**

Serenity grabbed Voltaire's sleeve tightly. "Can Lyrius do that? Should he do that!?"

"Since he's a decent man, yes." Voltaire' serious tone gave Serenity pause. "It is an unfortunate truth that the Shadowchasers have no way to free souls that are taken by things like the Orichalcos. Short of divine intervention, we cannot return the stolen souls to their bodies. Performing funerary rites at least frees them to pass on to the afterlife."

" _Deste nu_ _er_ _laum_ _.._ _.laum_ _et nu shessum.."_ Lyrius didn't flinch as teal light erupted on the vampire's forehead, swirling together into the Seal of the Orichalcos. But the color began to drain from his face and he sounded like he was forcing his words out against something shoved against his throat. " _Shessum_ _laum_ _deste_ _laum_ _…"_

" **Fascinating. I was not aware that if I exerted my influence hard enough, I could reach through the bodies whose souls I have taken. Imagine that. It certainly makes gathering minions that much easier."**

"Your bravado is as hollow as your heart, Castiel." Voltaire sneered. "I can hear the strain in your voice even from this distance. Trying to puppet another body will kill you."

 **"Perhaps. But I like seeing you fail, Shadowchaser. Another soul on your watch so easily snatched away."** Castiel's mocking tone suddenly broke, the mouth still still moving as he kept speaking. Then it froze and the face twisted into a rictus of horror as the forehead Seal began shine angrily.

Serenity and Voltaire covered their ears a piercing scream erupted. It was pain and anger twisted together by surprise, a prima screech of something that suddenly realized its own mortality.

Lyrius' teeth were bared, rivulets of magic weaving into his hair, melding the individual strands together into a flaring mass of darkness. His eyes were wide, his voice still audible over the screaming. _"Luam_ _est_ _shessum_ _ar_ _et_ _nevas_ _! Nevas et_ _aulm_ _!"_

The screaming cut off as suddenly as it had began, Castiel's voice rippling through every pitch and tone in fury. **"You are trying to exorcise me!?"**

The Seal's light flared bright, but there was a sharp pinging noise a crack tore across the light. Then Lyrius spoke a word that Serenity couldn't understand, but it left her bones aching. With an ear-splitting shriek, the Seal shattered into fragments and Lyrius was thrown backwards against the so hard Serenity heard the crack of something breaking.

She hoped it was the bed.

"LYRA!" Serenity had no time to process the name Voltaire hollered as he rushed to the other man's side, cupping his face in his gloved hands. "Oh you fool, you damned fool what did you do?! Oh Lyr-ERK!"

Lyrius's hand tightened around Voltaire's neck, the look of sheer irritation in his eyes offset by the inexplicable blush in his face. " _Not.._ _._ _in.._ _._ _public."_ He said through his teeth.

Voltaire glanced down at him and then gave Serenity a thumbs up. "He's fine."

Serenity raised a hand to her head gingerly, groaning at the low throbbing building up behind her eyes. "What happened?"

"I was trying to exorcise Castiel through our mutual connection. But Speak With Dead was never meant to work like that to begin with and the Orichalcos interfered. I held on as long as I could, but he tore himself free of the connection. The explosion was the Seal rejecting my magic." Lyrius, having released Voltaire, gingerly got to his feet. "Are you okay, Serenity?"

"Just one nasty headache brewing…" She rubbed at her temple, but it failed to help. "I thought the necklace you gave me was supposed to stop those, Lyrius."

"It still takes time for it to be effective." Lyrius steadied her with a grip on her shoulders, eyeing her in concern. "Are you sure you are okay?"

"Yeah." Serenity caught sight of Voltaire's face over Lyrius' shoulder and the strange expression the Englishman wore. But it was gone before she could grasp what it was, replaced by a cheery smile and wave. "Bones ache, though."

"Necromancy can have that effect. It is the magic of manipulating the dead, after all." Satisfied she was okay, Lyrius turned to check on on Bartlett's body. Despite everything, the vampire's body looked no worse for the wear save for the new look of pain on it.

He reached down and closed her eyes reverently. "I am sorry I could not restore you. I promise I will give you eternal rest soon."

"And we'll stop Castiel from doing this to someone else." Voltaire added quietly.

Serenity was touched by the words. The vampire was a criminal, but the two men were still treating her with the respect they had shown her. And she realized they probably lived by the same credo as a doctor did - "All are equal in death."

And for all intents and purposes, Sally Bartlett _was_ dead. Even if they found Castiel, they couldn't free her soul from his clutches. Not without a god helping them. Serenity doubted they could find one on such short notice. She hugged herself as the two men started talking about how to find Castiel again.

Death had been part of her life for as long as she had been a doctor. It came for everyone eventually and at most doctors could just keep it at bay. And comfort those who were ready to go. But Castiel's power...to just _steal_ a soul was so _wrong_. It wasn't wrong in the sense of going against nature - magic was something she accepted and it had its own set of rules that she hadn't learned yet.

It was just so _unfair._ So _cruel._ There was nothing anyone could to do defend against it. No chance to fight or struggle or make peace. Just one moment there, the next someone had control over your very being like it was a commodity.

She sank into the chair, resting her forehead in her hand and closing her eyes. Images of Joey and Mai on the blimp from Battle City shoved their way to the front, forcing her to remember her own helplessness and fear. Even at fourteen, she knew enough of what the doctors said that her brother and her friend were dying. And that were wasn't anything she could about it except sit there. Sit there and hope Yugi managed to win against Yami Marik while Mai and Joey kept taking one more breath closer to their lasts ones.

Her eyes burned with angry tears and her headache grew into a pounding against her temples. She wanted to stop this. She had become a doctor so she could stop being powerless in the face of death. But now that face was laughing at her.

 _WELL, I_ _WOULDN'T_ _SAY LAUGHING AT YOU. BUT IF YOU INSIST…_

Serenity's eyes went wide. "Castiel…"

"What?" Voltaire and Lyrius lifted their heads from their conversation, bewilderment in the Shadowchaser's voice. "Is he here?"

"In my head." She whispered, free hand digging into the armrest so hard the metal fingers tore into the covering.

 _YOUR HEAD, YOUR HEART, YOUR SOUL._ _IT'S_ _ALL THE SAME TO ME._ He taunted her, mental laughter cloyingly smug. _THOUGH AS THE SAYING GOES, YOU'VE GOT ME IN THE PALM OF YOUR HAND…_

"The stones!" Serenity shrieked and wrenched open her fingers to hurl them away. All five teeth were saturated with weak teal light and her arm locked into place before she could raise it.

Lyrius got to her first, reaching to snatch them out of her palm. But energy sparked like a miniature lightning bolt the moment he got close. It hurled him off his feet, sending he and Voltaire crashing back onto the bed.

 _THEY DON'T HAVE A GOOD TRACK RECORD TODAY FOR GOOD IDEAS. I_ _NEVER WOULD_ _HAVE REALIZED THAT I COULD EXERT MYSELF THROUGH THE ORICHALCOS LIKE THIS IF THAT LITTLE SPELL HADN'T SHOWN ME HOW._

Serenity grabbed at them with her metal arm, but the fingers whined in protest as she pulled. The stones refused to budge from her palm.

 _AFRAID NOT. YOU'RE MINE NOW._

Serenity screamed as as the stones glowed, throwing her head back as tendrils of pain clawed into her brain.

 _YES, YES._ _WE'RE_ _ALL SO IMPRESSED YOU CAN REACH THAT HIGH ON THE SCALE._ Castiel mocked.

Her hands flew to her head, clawing and clutching at her hair. SHe could feel the Seal forming there, drops of burning ice carving the lines on her skin. "Stop it!"

 _DOES THAT_ EVER _WORK?_

Serenity howled as teal light erupted at the base of her feet, the Seal surging to life.

 _GUESS NOT._ There was a 'pause' in Castiel's presence and she felt his attention shift. _WAIT. WHAT IS THAT?_

Something welled up in her. The Orichalcos had disturbed it like a stone being dropped into a pool. But the ripples weren't dying away, they were stirring together into harsh waves. It was dark and cruel and brutal and Serenity was its center.

It was power.

The teal light around began to wane, fading in and out as her shadow crawled over it hungrily. The shadow crushed the light, snuffing it out like the feeble thing it was.

 _WHAT ARE YOU DOING?_

Serenity sank into into the darkness. Or maybe it rose to met her. Maybe it was already in her - she could feel it filling her up. Soothing over her pain, driving the poison that was the Orichalcos from her.

 _THIS IS-! SHADOW MAGIC! NO, I CAN OVERCOME THIS!_

 _Yes. That's it. Shadow magic._ Serenity reached up, bare fingers finding the necklace Lyrius had given her. _The Shadow Queen's magic._

She held out her hand, the teal stones in her palm flaring in defiance at her. Serenity sneered, darkness dancing over the stones. She watched them flicker and dim, then tipped them casually to the floor.

 _MY magic._

She reached up and touched her forehead. The Seal there didn't even crack, simply fell apart as a single bolt of darkness struck it.

 _TODAY IS JUST FULL OF SURPRISES._ Castiel's presence swelled in her mind, radiating a collectedness that was unexpected from someone so evil. _LIKE THE FACT I'M ALREADY IN YOU. AND I'M NOT LEAVING WITHOUT YOUR SOUL._

Serenity felt herself smile. _You are going to leave. I'm going to make you._

Her tongue danced over her lips in eager hunger and she reached further into the power, reached for the presence that caused the ripples. The one that thought it was safe by hiding in the depths of darkness.

She was darkness.

They were standing in a void. Black that should have enveloped them, blinded them and yet made space for them. Gave sight without light.

He was a blight upon her darkness. Thick hair of gunmetal gray corrupted by teal straining through it, a cape of blood fluttering off him as it shed his essence like flower petals. Faded blue clothing unable to hide the lanky, strained body. "Fascinating. You have a gift to be able to step into yourself like this."

"You aren't afraid." The darkness coated her as she stepped through it to reach him. Shadows peeled Serenity away, scraped off her fear and helplessness like a cheap coat of paint and spread like floer petals to let the iron core of herself step through. Doctor Death's dark lips curled into a sneer under her mask. "That's a mistake."

"I'd say that your choice in outfits is." Castiel sneered back, his hair curtaining the visible portion of his face.

Light surged to life over his body, the Seal parting his hair as it appeared on his forehead. "Take your best shot. I want to see how long that confidence lasts."

Serenity pushed out and Castiel recoiled as darkness washed over him, chipping shards out of the light around his body with ease. He growled and the Seal flared as the light began to repair itself. A single bolt crashed into her bare midsection, sending her flying backwards. "Ten seconds of dark magic against ten thousand years of Orichalcos. Did you really think you had a chance?"

She laughed, one hand brushing the wound on her. "That hurts so nice..."

With a simple exertion of her will, she was standing again. Another exertion meant his bolt of power was swallowed up by the dark. A third left her standing in front of him and then the darkness was coiling over him. The light was crushed against his body like broken glass and he gasped as the coils drew tighter to grind the pieces into his mental flesh.

"You're too weak here. Too feeble." She put a hand on his bare cheek, a viper's smile on her lips. He didn't show it, but she felt it. His fear. His fright. They felt good. Delicious. "You can't hide your weakness from me."

She put her other hand over his mask. Like veins, darkness invaded it surface and began to dig into it. Castiel grit his teeth against the pain, at the tendrils burrowing into his face and cracking apart his being.

"Oh. There's a mask under your mask." Serenity's eyes shone at the realization. "It's the man you were before becoming a vampire, isn't it? All the bluster and fiercess...hiding the scared _human_ you once were."

"You mean the weak thing I was before and _you_ still are?" Castiel snapped and the Seal's light flared, throwing Serenity backwards and severing the tendrils. The wriggled obscenily as they stuck out from his face, but his power fried them all to a crisp. The darkness trapping him cracked, split and crumbled away like cheap glass as he lifted himself free. "Case in point-"

He was suddenly in front of her, hand seizing her throat and hoisting her in the air. "You take away Seal magic, I'm still a mighty, immortal vampire with super-strength. What are _you_?"

"Your death." Serenity sneered cruelly as darkness shot up from the floor of the void, shearing through his wrist like a blade. He roared in pain and stumbled backwards, staring at the stump even as teal light arced over the wound.

She peeled his severed hand from her neck, regarding it curiously and then flexed. It crumbled like chalk in a grip that could crush steel, becoming a pile of ash that she scattered in front of her with a wicked laugh.

The teal bolt of lightning caught her square in the face, her mask blowing apart and snapping her head back so hard she rocked on her feet. Then she straightened it, grinning at the scent of her own burnt hair and warm feeling of blood running down her cold skin. "Hurts even better.."

"Feh. Just my like to get a human with a maschoistic side. But tell me, how much pain can you take until you break?" Castiel mocked and then his eye was narrowing as he studied the red-haired woman underneath the mask. "I know you…"

"Death is beautiful in all her forms…" Serenity cooed, wafting darkness around her from her fingertips that sparked with unreleased power. "And you have run from her embrace for far too long, vampire."

"What a strange attitude for a healer to have." Castiel chuckled, his words laced with sudden understanding. "Especially for you, Doctor Serenity Wheeler."

The darkness slipped away, the shadows balked and her expression froze in confusion.

"I thought you were dead, but here you are before me. What good luck for me…" He began to advance, his single eye cold and eager. "And bad luck for you."

He reached for her and she snapped back, howling angrily as the darkness lashed out at him. To crush and bind and snuff and shatter that sneering face and his ugly light. The dark raged until it swallowed up her vision.

And then the rest of her.

TTTTTT

"You know Lyrius, most people think of simple things to give to their loved ones as a gift," Voltaire said his arms folded across his chest as he gave a considerably cross look at Lyrius which he returned in kind. "A bouquet of flowers, a box of chocolates, a piece of jewelry _that's not brimming with dark magic!_ "

"Iris' necklace saved her life from the Seal!" Lyrius snapped.

"Point made, but that doesn't change how it seemed to take its sweet time kicking in!"

"The Seal is a magic all its own! Until the Orichalcos tried to take her, the charms on the necklace didn't know her soul was at risk!"

"She _shouldn't_ have been at risk in the first place, Lyrius!" Voltaire was tugging at his hair in frustration, his voice having gone up an octave. "That is a normal human woman in the twilight years of her life! Why on earth would you put her in danger like this?"

"Yes, because stumbling across a vampire with its soul stolen, another vampire with ancient Atlantean magic and _you_ was exactly what we intended on our little trip! All we are doing is trying to get to Las Vegas to attend a normal Duel Monsters tournament!"

"A normal Duel Monsters- are you even listening to yourself man? When has there ever been so much as a backroom tournament in a comic book store that doesn't turn out to have ulterior motives?! And that's not even going into how you have made yourself a lightning rod for all manner of catastrophe! For pity's sake we barely even had time for coffee on our first date before a Knight of Domiel kicked the door down to that Starbucks and threw a knife at your head!"

"That is _your_ luck, not _mine._ " Lyrius' voice could not have gotten any frostier. "Serenity was in danger because of Castiel and the Orichalcos, not because I am her traveling companion. And if I had not been for me or the necklace, she would have lost her soul."

"She could very well lose her life. Castiel is a cornered animal and he's all the more dangerous for it! And now he has got a personal interest in her!"

"As he does in you. He's made no effort to conceal his feelings towards your actions in Gallowmere."

"Yes but I'm a _Shadowchaser_ , there are Red Shirts on the crew of the Enterprise that have less casual brushes with death and dismemberment! I've at least had the training and personal experience to give myself a fighting chance! What does she have hmm? Arthritis and crow's feet? There are things out there that would point and _laugh_ at something as trivial as a few metal limbs."

"What would you have me do, then? Abandon her here with some pocket money? Make a deal with some higher power to keep her safe? Leave her in your care?" Lyrius demanded. "You seem to have all the answers, so please, share!"

Voltaire pursed his lips, but it was clear the point had been made. As much as he loved to hear himself talk, Lyrius knew Voltaire was hardly as scatterbrained as he liked to let on...most of the time.

"I suppose it's just easier to blame the lightning rod then the person who chooses to stand next to it in the storm," He sighed. "I'm sure you had your reasons Lyra, it's just...this rarely ends well, and you've lost enough in your life as it is."

"None of this is anyone's fault." Lyrius sighed as well, the storm in his eyes calming. "We had no idea Castiel could do what he did with the stones and even less idea the necklace was capable of throwing it off like that. The spells woven into it do fight against mental corruption, but…" He scowled at the floor. "I wasn't aware they contained an actual portion of Iris' magic."

"You're the expert on shadow magic here. Is it dangerous to her?"

Lyrius hesitated, his eyes flicking back and forth as he considered all his information. "No. What we saw was simply a side-effect. Iris wore the necklace every day for over seven hundred years. She did all of her magic with it on. The magic Serenity tapped into is simply a by-product of that exposure. It is not actively malevolent or corrupting."

"That's not what I meant. Lyra, you saw the look on her face when she got rid of the Seal. It was not a happy-I'm-going-to-be-free smile. It was happy-I'm-going-to-rip-out-your-guts smile."

"Shadow magic is not inherently bad, Voltaire. It did not give her anything that she did not already have."

Voltaire gave Lyrius an amused look despite how annoyed he was. "Really, you're going to give me the 'dark is not evil' lecture? I'm pretty sure I used that line to convince you to accept my offer for coffee the first time we met."

"My point is….my point is…" His face scrunched up a bit in thought. "Hang on, I had something good, damn it we always go in circles whenever we argue I can never keep track of what my stance is...oh right! Be careful."

"...That's it?" One of Lyrius' eyebrows lifted.

"You can dismiss it once you've given it a try for once in your life you adorable little bundle of brooding angst and spiky edges."

"You remain as confounding as ever, but I must confess," Lyrius let the faintest smile grace his face, "Your particular brand of madness is...pleasant in small doses."

"Do they come in any doses smaller than small?" The irritated groan prompted both men to look over as Serenity rolled over, wiping at her face. "Because between the two of you, Voltaire talks a lot more. It's like an angry, British chipmunk…"

"I resent that," the Shadowchaser put in. "I am a considerably well adjusted British chipmunk considering my line of work. It's _this_ one who's got the nervous disposition of a cat."

"How are you feeling?" Lyrius ignored the banter and moved to Serenity's side, watching her with concern.

"Annoyed at the two yelling men in my room." Serenity sat up, then brushed away Lyrius' hand when he tried to stop her from rising. "I'm fine, Lyrius. What's happening?"

Voltaire looked like he wanted to say something, but a glare from the doctor put a stop to that idea. "We moved back to our room. There wasn't anything more we could do in Miss Bartlett's."

"And her body?"

"Laid peacefully on the bed and we put the 'Do Not Disturb' sign on the door when we left." Voltaire sighed. "There's no next of kin and the mundane authorities would just put her in a morgue. My heart goes out to the poor cleaning staff when they find her, but there's really no precedent for a soulless vampire, so I need to put in call to Dracula to see what she wants done."

"Dracula is a thing?" Serenity looked like she wanted to follow up on that, but waved it away. "Whatever. Do you have any leads on Castiel?"

"None so far." Lyrius shook his head.

"Then why are you two wasting time arguing instead of doing something that will get results?" Serenity snapped so forcefully that both men took a step back. "That bastard knows who I am and I won't be safe until he's either dead or a pile of ashes!"

"Serenity, he may know of you through earlier -"

"No! He knows who I _am_ , Lyrius! He knew my full name! He's someone I've met before and if that person became a freaking vampire and is running around stealing souls, I get the feeling he's going to get an extra special kick out of coming after me!" Serenity growled, eyes narrowing. "So we are going to find him, put a stop him and I will dance in his ashes or my name isn't Serenity Wheeler!"

There was a sound exactly like someone strangling a rubber dog toy. Lyrius had his hand over his face but he could perfectly imagine the look on Voltaire's face, like a child who just had the Green Power Ranger show up to his birthday party.

"Three…two...o-"

" _Ohmygoodnessgraciousyou'reSerenityWheelerIcan'tbelieveit'syouthisissuchanhonorwheredoIevenbeginEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE_ _!"_

"...Was the glass in that window always cracked like that?"

Serenity's hand clamped over Voltaire's mouth and she held up a finger in warning. "Not. Now. Or so help me, I will lose my temper and then I will hit you with my rocket-powered fist."

Voltaire looked like he very much wouldn't mind being hit by Serenity's rocket-powered fist, but he nodded in acquiescence anyway.

Serenity waited until she was sure he wasn't going to continue squeeing before removing her hand. "Lyrius, I can feel you brooding at the back of my head. What is wrong?"

"The necklace."

Her hand flew to the teardrop ruby reflexively. "It's got some serious mojo. I didn't think it could drive the Orichalcos off like that. Or let me face Castiel in my soul…."

"It did what?" Voltaire cocked his head at her as if he hadn't heard her right.

"When Castiel tried to use the Orichalcos to take my soul, I was able to...tap into? No... _feel_ the power in the necklace. It made me strong enough to make him stop. And I confronted him in myself, for lack of any better terminology and made the darkness eat his little crap lightshow." Serenity folded her arms as the two men exchanged glances. "What? I thought that's what the necklace was _supposed_ to to do."

"All we witnessed was your shadow wiping away the Seal around you with a malicious smile on your face. Then the Seal vanished completely, your face went slack and you passed out." Lyrius informed her.

"What? That can't be. Castiel and I were arguing and fighting for...I don't know how long it was, but it was certainly not a short amount of time." Serenity insisted.

"If it was truly a mental battle, then everything was happening at the speed of thought. So your perceptions got a bit wonky. Kind of like how taking a tests drags on and on. Maths, especially. Those last so long we could use them in lieu of prison sentences." Voltaire noticed the raised eyebrows he was getting from the other and coughed into his fist.

"Okay, fair enough. Obviously, you both think that me doing that was a concerning thing. Why's that, Lyrius?"

Lyrius was silent for a couple of moments, piecing together his response. "That necklace has absorbed a lot of the Shadow Queen's power. Her actual magic, the kind she was given thanks to be a proxy of a demon lord and not just the protective spells and cantrips. For you to just _use_ it without even thinking is worrying."

"Is it going to corrupt my soul? Make me evil?"

"No. Magic has no inherent morality. But shadow magic is one of the schools of magic that runs and feeds on negative emotions. Anger, pain, hate and the desire to hurt others."

"So what? A soldier in the field feels the same thing when fights his enemy. And a doctor certainly wants to crush the life of a patient's disease." Serenity wasn't sounding very convinced. "And I've seen you use it all the time, Lyrius."

"It is still not something to be wielded lightly because it can often lead to acting without thinking. And it places great strain on the body. I am genuinely grateful that you did not suffer a heart attack with what happened earlier. But it is a risk I'm not willing to chance again." Lyrius held out his hand. "Return the necklace, Serenity"

Serenity stared at his open hand, then back up at his face. "No!"

It was almost comical at how often she was stunning the two hardened magical veterans in the last few minutes. "This necklace kept me safe, remember? And the vampire who probably has a personal grudge against me is still out there. Why would I want to give up the one thing that would give me a fighting chance?"

"There are other ways to keep you safe-"

"Are any of them a sure shot in standing up to the uber-evil Atlantis magic?" Serenity lifted an eyebrow in expectation, but the two men just looked frustrated. "I thought so."

"Miss Wheeler - and I still can't believe I'm saying that, so going to need an autograph later - trust us when we say that messing with dark magic and artifacts is dangerous even for the experienced. They can be unpredictable at the best of times and outright lethal at the worst." Voltaire said. "I trust Lyrius enough to believe him when he says the necklace is benevolent. But that doesn't mean you couldn't hurt yourself trying to use it. Or you could use it too well and seriously injure or even kill."

Serenity paused, remembering how she had felt when the shadow magic pulsed through her. When she had confronted Castiel and felt a dark rush of pleasure at lashing out and harming him. It had been as easy as slipping on a warm overcoat and just as comforting.

But if that was the price to pay, so be it. "It's either the necklace or nothing. And if you're both so worried about it, then why don't you take the time to teach me about it? Or you know, test and verify what I can and cannot do like logical people instead of just assuming dark equals bad?"

"...that is a _very_ good point." Voltaire admitted halfway through raising his finger to continue his argument. "We may be blowing this whole thing out of proportion a bit after only one instance that wasn't even that impressive when put in perspective."

"Doctors keep it real." Serenity flashed him a winning smile, prompting Voltaire to let out a little squee again and then turned to Lyrus. Her smile dropped into a frown to match his scowl. "Still not taking it off, Lyrius."

"You said you would listen to me when it comes to life behind the Veil, without question." His tone was arch. "I'm asking you do so now."

"And I'm saying I heard you, but the answer is still no!"

"Serenity-"

"Lyrius, we haven't been a _day_ away from Japan and we're already knee-deep in magic!"

"That doesn't mean you have to put yourself at risk like this."

"You two just spent ten minutes yelling about how dangerous this life could be for me! I'm at more risk not having the necklace!"

"You don't have to be involved at all. Castiel is the Shadowchasers' problem." Lyrius' eyes flicked to Voltaire.

"Technically a soul-hunting megalomaniacal vampire qualifies as _everyone's_ problem but-I-will-concede-we-are-slightly-more-qualified-to-deal-with-him-then-most!" Voltaire couldn't get the last few words out fast enough when he saw the look Lyrius was giving him.

"So it's fine to leave him roaming around?"

"No, but neither you nor I are probably capable of stopping him right now. And as you so reminded me, I need to put myself first. It's why I am not running back to Arcadia straight into the jaws of danger despite part of me wanting to, _doctor._ "

Serenity grit her teeth. "Fine. For the next five minutes, I'm a doctor again. So here's a diagnosis! You aren't worried risking my life over this, you're worried that if I do get hurt while I have the necklace, it's just another failure to add to your pity pile! Or maybe you think that I'll become another Iris and you won't be able to stop me!"

Lyrius' eyes flashed in anger and he drew himself up. "That is uncalled for." His lips curled in a sneer. "Especially from a washed-up doctor who still wants to go chasing big brother's coattails and be the heroine! But even with that necklace, you won't be able to save him!"

Serenity's eyes went wide, then she seized a pillow and hurled it at him. She missed, but the force was hard enough it split when it hit the corner. "GET OUT!"

Lyrius glared darkly at her for a moment, then stormed out of the room like feral black blur.

Serenity watched him go, blinking away angry tears. Growling, the doctor kicked the dead pillow across the room. Voltaire caught it before it should hit him. But it still exploded in a small shower of stuffing that left him looking like he'd been snowed on.

"Wonderful." He spluttered, spitting out a few pieces and then jumped back to avoid getting squashed as Serenity stomped past. "Wait -where are you going?"

"In the direction away from Lyrius!"

TTTTTTT

Pain was his lifeblood. The dull, throbbing ache that haunted him like a specter.

It coursed through him, enveloped him, shrouded him and pressed at him; the whetstone to sharpen his senses against and the fire that kept him moving.

The thing that kept him from losing his mind at the pulsing, gyrating humans failing at 'dancing' around him and the grating, teeth-rattling pounding beat of a bass that passed for music.

Laser lights bounced off a spinning glitterball and he scowled in annoyance as the neon green menace burned into his good eye. A jerk of his head sent the wispy gray-teal mold that passed for his hair falling forwards enough to block it.

But one of the humans - a male specimen bare-chested under his vest except for the paints splashed like vibrant scars over his muscle - thought the escape attempt was an invitation. He came over with the extra-measured carefulness of someone who was drunk and believed they were making a convincing effort to hide it. "Hey, Phantom of the Opera. You want something?"

He wanted many things and many of them involved absolutely and gleefully destroying that accursed glitterball and making the DJ eat the shards. But that would have hardly been conductive to get anything. Instead, he tossed back his drink and put on a charming smile. "Depends. Are you for sale, cuteness?"

The man laughed, not noticing or caring that his drink was spilling over his hand. "Sure thing, phantom. Long as you can show me the music of the night!"

"Oh, that'd be _my_ pleasure." He said, the purr in his voice promising far more than music. "We'd make some beautiful music together, all night long."

Vestman grinned at the promise, slamming his drink down so hard the rest of the contents bounced out. "Lead on, maestro." He held out his hand expectantly.

He took it as he stood, weaving the man through the crush of sweaty, drunken bodies of the club's dance floor. The blast of fresh sea air like a slap in the face as soon as they crossed the threshold onto the castle's walls. Few were out this late at night, mostly clubbers trying to find their way back to their rooms. A group of smokers watched the pair go by, no doubt intrigued by the man in the sweeping cloak leading a modern art project away. But were too consumed by their need for nicotine to truly care beyond the moment it took to light up a new cigarette.

He could relate. Hunger was pain's calling card.

"Hey, man. Man, hey. Hey!" Vestman slapped an unsteady hand on his shoulder as they walked, the smell of vodka ruining what would have been a winning smile otherwise. "I'm in room 323. It's a double, but my buddy should be out all night. He sleeps during the day. Like a vampire. His name's Edward. "

"Like the book." He said with bland interest, trying hard not to shove the drunken lout away when he started leaning heavily on him for support. "Does he sparkle?"

"Wha-sparkle? Pshaw, no!" Vestman laughed a little too loud. "Eddie's got hair, man. He's fuzzy! Like a wolf! Like that...that other guy that sparkling vampire doesn't like!"

"Jacob."

"Yeah! Jacob! See, he sleeps like a vampire, his name's Edward..but he's hairy like a wolf!" The laughter was loud and cheerful, even as his free arm tightened around his partner's waist. "C'mon man! That's funny! It's funny, s'right?"

This human was rapidly becoming insufferable and the annoyance was stirring his hunger, the urge to feast and eat rising like a tide. But he couldn't let that tide carry him away. There was too much on the line to blow his cover and risk drawing attention.

But the human was grinning at him expectantly and he put on a big smile while laughing half-heartedly.

"Wha-? What was that?" Vestman laughed again, punching him playfully on the shoulder as they descended the steps to a courtyard. "That was no laugh! You gotta be louder, man!"

"Sorry. I just didn't think it was that funny." He looked contrite at his date's put-out expression. "I'll be louder later, promise…"

"Psh. Really?" Vestman lost the rest of his words as the hand still sticky with drink was brought up to the masked man's lips and began to suck and nibble on them. "Oh gawwwds…"

The man had been drinking flavored cocktails - the sugar from them was almost sickeningly strong and fake. But he worked the fingertips over, savoring them and letting the last one slid free reluctantly. "Really."

Confidence restored, Vestman leaned on him again as they passed under an archway into a dark corridor. "Hey, why we talking the long way, phantom? Room's that's - this - not this direction!"

"Why wait for a room?" He breathed, grabbing two handfuls of the vest and pushing the man against the wall. Tried to ignore the paint from the human's body smearing his clothing. " 'Later' can be now, if you want…"

"I want, I want…" Vestman groaned, unsteady hands fumbling at the other man's body. He melted as kisses were planted over his exposed chest, up his bare skin. "Fuck, your lips are cold…!"

"That's just because you're so hot…" Came the reply before his tongue flicked over the clavicle. The human tasted good, tasted strong. For the first time since the club, he gave a genuine moan. The hunger surged over his body and he shoved both hands against the wall to either side of his prey's head, pushing himself up against the human's body. "And delicious…"

"Yeah I am." Vestman grinned, cocky with the idea of what was to come and his lust was visible even through the glassy haze of his eyes. His hips shifted so his arousal was digging into his partner's thigh. "Like how I taste?"

"Yes." The word was a breathless moan and he pushed back against the human in desperate need. "I want to taste you all…!"

"All is what you can have…" Vestman groaned. "Now tell me your name so I can moan it right…"

"Castiel."

"That's a mouthful." Another cocky grin. "But so am I."

"I bet you are…" Castiel licked his lips.

Even through his drunken haze, Vestman could see something wasn't right about that lovely mouth and that sweet tongue that was sliding over...over. "Shit, man, are those fangs?"

"Mmhmmm…"

"Are they real?"

"Very." Then Castiel darted his head down, sinking those fangs into the man's neck like a hot knife through better. The human's body tensed in from the shock of the pain, then he began to thrash. But slender fingers pinned him down like iron vises. The strangled gasp of surprise was all Vestman got out before Castiel pressed hard at him, shoving the air out of his lungs.

The blood flowed warm and thick, Castiel gulping it down like a man dying of thirst. The pain ached in relief and longing, the blood dousing the flames of his hunger. The man's struggles and jerks were just as satisfying, the vampire reveling in at how helpless the human was to escape, how weak he was.

But the flames of hunger refused to abate entirely, burning through the blood as they roared into a blaze. The heat surged out of his core, into his fangs to reach into the human and drain and suck and devour everything he had to give. Castiel could drink his fill.

If only he could. Reluctantly, Castiel pulled himself off the human and stepped back. His prey didn't seem to notice, his breathing hard, heavy. Excited. The wide eyes were still blurred by alcohol and they focused on Castiel as if seeing him for the first time.

A lust-tinged smile spread the vampire's lips and magic tinged his next words. "Didn't realize you had such a short fuse, cuteness."

"Short fu-" Vestman frowned, mind-fogging over as the charm redoubled the alcohol's effects. He glanced down as Castiel pointed and swore at the stain on the crotch of his jeans. "Aw hell! For real!?"

"My love bites are to die for," Castiel smirked, licking his lips clean even as the human felt his neck. And the smooth, puncture-free skin that was reddening into a hickey. "Better luck next time."

"C'mon, that's not fair! You said you were gonna use your mouth!"

"I did. Didn't say where." The vampire frowned at the irate look on the humans' face and pushed more magic into his words. "Go back to the club. We're done here."

"Fine, whatever." Vestman air-shoved him away dismissively, storming back out of the corridor. "I don't need to deal with this!"

Castiel watched him go and then started down the other way. The hunger gnawed at him so demandingly he might as well not have fed at all. Perhaps he should have drained the human dry…

No, that Shadowchaser and his necromancer friend had already discovered the damn fool Bartlet and her Orichaclos stones. They knew he was here and were probably looking for him right now. He couldn't risk another body. Even if the hunger was demanding he chase after his prey, snap his neck and rip open his throat to feast.

But even taking everything the man had to go give wouldn't stop the pain. Even the feeding he'd gotten just now had done nothing to it. The pain coiled itself around his bones like chains, weighing his body down and forcing him to strain to move, almost like it was angry at being denied. Maybe it was. He could feel it radiating it out from underneath his mask in painful waves boiled through his veins.

Castiel bit his lip to bite back his angry shout but didn't stop his fist from slamming into the nearby wall. The stone thundered from the force of the blow, denting like it was paper as chips flew and cracks spread. Blood was a vampire's life, blood was a vampire's strength and yet he knew he could drink this entire island dry of pathetic humans and the pain would never recede.

He stalked down the corridors, fuming. It was his own fault, trusting in the Orichalcos as much as he had. It had tainted him, its bleak light suffusing him with impurities as it much as it had strength. He had wanted its ancient magic to give strength to the vampire race, to be the light that illuminated their dark glory to all the weak-minded cattle and sheeple who had wronged them.

And now he was the fuel for that light. It burned in him without consuming him, a pain that fueled him while paradoxically drinking away his strength. The vampire shoved open the door to a maintenance corridor and felt something trickle down his lip. He wiped at it with the back of his hand, good eye narrowing in frustration at the sight.

Stark against the backdrop of his unearthly beautiful pale skin was blood. _His_ blood. It was sickeningly pink and thin, glinting grotesquely with shades of teal as the dim lightning flashed over it. It was disgusting and disturbing, a vampire whose blood had no strength.

But it was there and so was his hunger and he sucked it off his fingers to take the edge for a few more seconds. It wasn't going to help. He needed more. More than blood, he needed souls. Souls filtered through the Orichalcos' blasted light and then the pain would fade.

Castiel's mind drifted to the glittering tree he'd found on the island. The Orichalcos had let him hear the tree's haunting melody of wayward souls, guided him to through the twisting caverns beneath the castle to it. So many souls, so much power was there for the taking. If only he knew how to get to them. The tree's fruit was sick and burst into mush when he touched it, releasing the stench of darkness and death. The Orichalcos could filter it clean, he knew….but how?

His head throbbed and his cheek seared with pain, the vampire clutching at his mask weakly. An aftershock from his magical scuffle with Voltaire and his friends. They'd tipped their hand trying to exorcise him. He knew they were here now, knew their numbers and he knew their strengths.

Including Serenity. He had not ever expected to see her again. She should have died in Zero Reverse, but here she was now. Oh, her appearance had changed, she'd aged, but she was still Serenity Wheeler. Smiling, obnoxious Doctor Wheeler.

Who had shadow magic now. Castiel smiled at the memory of her dark persona, the pleasure she took in attacking him, making him bleed. Even her little malevolent laugh had been a good sign. He remembered that Serenity, the one who cursed the light dying in her eyes and who lived in a world of darkness, who wanted the world to hurt because it had abandoned her.

Her soul was strong. He almost drew in a breath in ecstasy at the thought of the power and strength devouring such a dark, heavy soul would bring. He _would_ drain her dry and rip out her soul. Then maybe her soul would give him the power necessary to free himself from the Orichalcos so he could be a real vampire again. If not, her two friends would be just as useful.

And if he did become a true vampire again, then he could finally begin the rebuilding of his race. And where better place to start than family?

TTTTTTT

The bar was mercifully full of people. That meant more chances to lose yourself, to hide away and it was the last place Lyrius would want to be because of the risk of actually having to talk to people.

The embers of her anger were still simmering despite the guilt and frustration raining on their parade and all Serenity wanted right now was to drown the rest of them with a flood of alcohol.

"What's the old line 'What's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this'?"

"MOTHER-" Serenity nearly toppled out of her seat in surprise. One moment the chair next to her had been empty, the next Voltaire was sitting there as if he had been there all along. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

"And be responsible for the untimely demise of a celebrity? No thank you, I'm simply good at showing up when the plot demands it, or if I feel someone could use someone to talk to."

Voltaire motioned for the bartender and muttered a drink request too low for Serenity to hear. The man behind the counter looked at the Shadowchaser like he was out of his mind (fair assessment really) but shrugged before looking to Serenity.

"Pina Colada please." The doctor ordered and then watched him depart. "Voltaire, don't take this the wrong way, but I'm kind of angry right now. And I don't want to hear another lecture. Or I _will_ hit you with my rocket-powered fist."

"See, you keep saying that as though that's a deterrent and not encouragement, but no Serenity I'm not here to lecture. Or at the very least, I'm not here to lecture in any way that's disapproving of what happened with Castiel."

"Good." Serenity grunted. "Why aren't you bothering Lyrius or Lyra or whoever you call him by? He might brood so hard some poor sap's head explodes."

"Serenity if you've known him as long as I can guess you have, you know as well as I do that his next logical action is to find a cliff/balcony/any high location to stand over and sulk for a good three hours."

"None of what you just said answers my question."

"Oh no? When was the last time you got more than a few grunts out of him when he was like that? There's a time to poke the bear and a time to let him have his space, this is most definitely the latter."

"He's certainly as cuddly as one." Serenity gave her companion a look. "I'mma take a stab in the dark and say you two were an item at one point in the last five years? Was he always this obtusely stubborn? Or does he just _suck_ at expressing himself like a normal human being?"

Before Voltaire could answer, the bartender returned with a glass of...chocolate milk. Accepting a handful of oreos, Voltaire crushed them in his gloved hand and sprinkled them over the contents of the glass and gave it a gentle swirl before taking a deep swig.

"Ahhh, needs a brownie and some gummy worms, but any port in a storm as they say. Sorry, to answer your question, no this is nothing new to me. Lyra is adorably stunted in matters of interacting with others, take it from someone with a similar disposition. Only difference is, getting a conversation out of him can be like pulling teeth, and with me I've had all manner of items and appendages stuffed in my mouth mid-sentence. Ever try and talk through a mouth full of reader's digest?"

"Okay, you're doing that thing where you're talking about things I didn't ask. It was kind of a yes/no question." Serenity sighed and rested her forehead in her palms. "Why do all the men in my life have to be so strange? And don't answer that one!"

"I wasn't, I wasn't!" Voltaire promised hastily and took another drink of his chocolate milk as her drink arrived. In an impressive fashion, she downed it in one go and signaled for another before staring down at the bar again. "Why did you get so incensed earlier? Lyrius may not talk well, but he was not trying to attack you."

"I know, I know, I just lost my temper." Serenity's eyes searched the bar for something, but it didn't look like she knew what she was looking for. "Look, Voltaire, I have spent the last twenty years of my life on a hellhole of an island fighting to save other people's lives and living in a deep fear for my own. I was trapped, helpless and hurt. And Lyrius got me away from there. But we haven't gone a single day without something terrible happening and right now, this necklace he gave me is the only thing that makes me feel safe. I don't want him worrying about me if he takes it away. I want to be able to _do_ something about when _he_ gets in danger."

"An admirable sentiment my dear, but the problem is, power like that often comes at a price. I'm sure Lyrius would let you keep the necklace if he knew without a doubt that you could harness its power without repercussion, but magic of that kind can leave certain...stains."

Serenity's mind flashed back to Mai's face. And the fear the older woman had had trapped on her face during their time in Satellite. "Like the Orichalcos and Shadow Games ripping open the Veil?"

Voltaire nearly choked on his drink in mid swig and sputtered for a moment before giving her a startled look. "Well, I suppose it's possible but, gods above I can't think of a less pleasant way to become Aware. That kind of violent exposure…"

"At least I'd be able to see half of the shit happening on Satellite. Or whatever else we see in the future. You're supposed to have some kind of mark on your face, right?" Serenity gestured at his face with her drink. When he nodded, she scowled. "I have this magic necklace and I can't even see that. Kind of puts a crimp in my plan to help Lyrius."

The doctor tossed back her drink and started fiddling with the umbrella. "Rayearth warned me that if I tried to fight the things behind the Veil, they'd eat me alive. I didn't want to believe it at the time, but if it hadn't been for either of you, I'd just have been at Castiel's mercy.

Voltaire looked at Serenity out of the corner of his eye before he snorted and just about collapsed onto the counter trying to muffle his snickering. Serenity's expression turned from confused to irritated in record time. "What's so funny?"

"O-Oh it's not you personally Serenity it's just, if I had a nickel for every time I heard someone assume that the Shadowchasers have all the answers and are so much better than you poor 'helpless' Mundane, I might spring for one of those confounded D-Wheels they're raving about in Japan. Bloody gimmicks in my opinion, but to each their own."

"Well, isn't that the truth? The Shadowchasers deal with the threats normal people can't. Your average police officer or soldier wouldn't do much to slow down the things I've seen while with Lyrius, and that was before...Castiel," She grimaced already finding the name unpleasant to have on her tongue.

"True, but there's a certain arrogance in thinking that should trivialize the kind of ordeals your brother and Yugi went through in their youth. The King of Games and his companions didn't have a vast network of resources and training in combating supernatural threats. All they had were their cards, their wits, and the bond between them."

"You forgot to mention the whole 'magic alter ego' thing Yugi had, or how Kaiba was essentially Japan's answer to Batman, I'm honestly surprised he didn't spend all his time brooding in a cave rewatching old footage of his duels with Yugi." Serenity giggled.

"Hush you I'm trying to be insightful," Voltaire said waving a gloved hand flippantly. "Alright, pop quiz, you are familiar with the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes?"

"...Are...are you asking me that with a straight face?"

"In a day and age where society's youth see fit to mangle the English language into dreck such as 'yololololo' and 'get rekt'?" Voltaire made a loud hacking sound better suited to a cat then a man, and spat to the side making his opinion on such things _quite_ clear. "I can no longer give people the benefit of the doubt when it comes to appreciation of good literature."

Serenity smiled and gave the Shadowchaser a sympathetic pat on the back. "There there, the classics will never truly die, but getting back on topic yes I've read them."

"Then tell me, what was Sherlock's opinion of Scotland Yard?"

Serenity looked down at her empty glass her lips pursing in thought. "Honestly? It's been a while but I always thought he had a low opinion of them."

Voltaire gave a little grin. "Oh?"

"Well yeah, he was always solving the cases that had them running around in circles, and most of the time he was able to find leads by not having to bog himself down with procedure. He probably thought they were-"

"-Amateurs?" Voltaire finished.

She nodded.

"Common misconception my dear, in fact the truth of the matter was, Sherlock always viewed _himself_ as the amateur, and the _police_ as the professionals. Inspector Lestrade was a perfectly competent officer of the law in his own right, but he was smart enough to know when it was time to seek the help of someone like Holmes who could navigate that gray area between law and lawlessness. He wasn't a better policeman, he was simply better at thinking outside the box."

He was gesturing sharply now with his free hand and Serenity got the impression he was really enjoying the chance to cut loose and perform for a minute. "But if there were no police, and Sherlock was the sole source of law and order in London, all the brilliance in the world wouldn't amount to much if he was constantly swamped with cases. If he had to deal with every single case of errant theft and petty assault, how would he ever have had time to solve the case of the Speckled Band, or the Strange Case of the Murderer in Wax?"

"It's precisely the same situation with the Shadowchasers and Mundane authorities. We may be able to deal with a situation that most people could never even imagine, but we wouldn't be able to do our jobs without them doing their own. In fact, it's really Mundane such as yourself that have the far more challenging task of keeping the real world together while we operate in the shadows."

"I have more respect and admiration in your average police officer, firefighter, and doctor," He paused to give her a warm smile, taking a moment to inhale (Serenity wasn't sure but it may have been the first breath he had taken in the last three minutes) "Then I do for the likes of Lyrius, Jalal, or myself."

"Your average human doesn't have the safety net of knowing that there is a life beyond this one. They don't have the reassurance that for all that is dark and terrible in life there are forces beyond imagination that exist solely to bring warmth and joy. All they have is faith and hope, and they have to take the worst monsters humanity can produce head on all the same."

"You tell me, who has the more difficult job. A Shadowchaser who has to save the world from a card carrying, mustache twirling villain, or the officer of the law who has to explore the motive behind what drove a husband and father of two children to suddenly snap and butcher them in their sleep?"

Serenity watched him finally pause to suck down some of his drink. "I think they're all equally difficult. No more than a doctor explaining to a child why their mommy or daddy isn't going to wake or lying to a patient dying of a gut wound that help is coming even though you both know its not." As Voltaire's face fell a little, she reached over and patted him on the shoulder. "But I get where you're coming from, Voltaire. We all do what we can, with what we have and at the end of the day, we all make the world a little bit better to be in."

She paused, something clicking in her mind and sighed into her empty glass again. "Now if we could only do that by finding Castiel and having a plan to stop him."

"Pfft, plans are for the paranoid and the obsessive compulsive, I take things as they come one step at a time. If we get a lead on Castiel, we'll follow it, if not we'll shore up our defenses and wait for his next move. Not much point in fretting on something we have no immediate control over."

"In fact the best advice I can give you Doctor Wheeler?" He smiled and leaned over tapping her on the nose with a long slender finger. "You should get some sleep. You've had a busy day and the only thing your going to accomplish with any more drinking is risk getting a young man's hopes up." He chuckled and gave her a wink.

Her cheeks colored faintly but she batted away his hand with a smile. "Sorry beanpole, I've already got one tall dark and snarky man in my life, but thanks for the company. It helped...a little."

"Then my work here is done," Voltaire said patting her shoulder as he got up to leave. And immediately sat back down as a strong hand pushed him back into his seat. "Mister Lessiux. What a pleasant surprise."

"I don't think it is, Shadowchaser." The white-suited businessman stood out in stark relief of the bar's dark lighting. And so did his cool, unhappy expression. "You see, I was to finalize a sale this evening with one Sarah Bartlett over some just lovely sapphires I'd had my eye on. And when she didn't make our meeting, I went to check up on her. And I somehow found a vampire's _corpse_ sprawled on the bed in a trashed room that reeks of that particular tinge of ozone that magic can produce."

Voltaire's eyes widened behind his glasses as he raised a hand to his mouth. "A murder? Good lord, someone better call the authorities, there's no telling what _ghastly_ plots could be in motion!"

He smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes and Serenity swore the temperature plummeted a few degrees. "You know what _else_ I found there? A phone number. _Your_ phone number. Why is that?"

"Wait, I have a phone?" Voltaire blinked owlishly behind his glasses. "Oh, that thing that vibrates in my pocket whenever someone sends me one of those adorable cat videos, is that what it's called. Frankly I'm as surprised as you to hear that, in fact I better get right on it."

"By having a few drinks?" His eyes flicked over to Serenity. "Or trying to get another notch on your belt?"

"Nope, I'm spoken for." Serenity held up her hand and the wedding ring she'd been provided.

"Well, I apologize for assuming out of turn like that." Jean-Claude inclined his head and then fixed his gaze on Voltaire, a single finger landing square on the Shadowchaser's chest. "Let me explain something to you. This time tomorrow, I will have finalized my ownership of Duelist Kingdom. And it would be very unfortunate if there was an active murder investigation with the murderer still at large running around when I took over. Just think of all the innocent people put in danger. All the bad press the Shadowchasers would get." His eyes narrowed. "All the bodies at your feet."

Voltaire's face fell until it vanished entirely beneath the shadow cast by his hat until the only thing that was visible was the blood red gleam of his glasses. There was a tense silence as both men stared one another down before Voltaire smacked a fist into a gloved palm. "Well then, no time like the present! I assume you have something for me to assist me in my endeavors?"

The business man pushed a flash drive into the Shadowchaser's hand. "That contains the most up to date map of the island , a list of all major Shadowkind guests and a passkey that will get you into the restricted areas."

"Why Jean-Claude you're letting me peek behind the curtains, I'm touched. Alright then, you take care of things on your end and I'll start poking around, see what I can't find." Voltaire nodded his thanks and then vanished into the crowd.

Jean-Claude watched him go with a snort of exasperation, then signaled the bartender. "The lady's drinks tonight are on my tab." He nodded at Serenity. "I do apologize for interrupting your evening."

"It's fine. We were done talking, anyway." Serenity was already getting another pina colada.

"I've heard of that Shadowchaser. If you can get away with both your ears still attached, it's something of a small miracle." Jean-Claude said and his gaze found Serenity's necklace. He looked like he wanted to comment on it, then thought better of it. "If you do see Lyrius again anytime soon, please give him my regards. And tell him that my offer is still on the table."

With that, he was gone and Serenity was left alone with her drink. She stared after the two men, then knocked back her drink.

"I'm going to need another one, please."

TTTTTTT

 _A/N_ _: Once again, many thanks to my two co-writers for this beautiful effort!_

 _Next Time: Our three heroes come up with a plan to locate Castiel and bring the vampire to justice. But a cornered predator is still a predator and all the more dangerous for it. And Serenity must confront of a piece of her past she thought was buried forever!_

 _Duelist Kingdom: The Masked Truth!_


	11. Duelist Kingdom: The Masked Truth

Kintsugi  
By 7th Librarian

 _A/N:_ _Whoo! Whoo! Third chapter posted on a consistent basis! Go me! And go you! Go you reading this chapter and reviewing it!_

 _Get on with it! I'll meet you at the bottom!_

Chapter 11: Duelist Kingdom: The Masked Truth

 _I hope I do not screw this up._

The thought, unbidden, pushed its way through the forefront of Lyruis' mind. He frowned. It was not like him to have such a doubt, but it was also not like him to take a risk like this.

The doubting thought still nagged at him and he took in a breath, exhaling on a ten count to push entire thing out of is mind. He was _not_ taking that much of a risk. Serenity was a grown, reasonable woman and despite their anger at each other, would be willing to at least listen to his apology.

At least he hoped she would.

He rolled the bottle of liquor between his hands as watched the ocean splash gently against the rocky cliff face below him. _I suppose I should be somewhat please._ _The_ _fact I am so concerned over this is a good indicator that I care about her and her opinions of me. Which is a good sign itself that I am slowly coming out of my morass of dark feelings and shadowed thoughts._

It was a somewhat pleasing thought, though it was tempered by the realization that she was still very much in danger. Without the necklace, Castiel could steal her soul and if he had perfected the method that meant he could do it without the need to duel her, there was nothing he could do to stop it. With the necklace…

The sound of hoofsteps put a halt to his thought process and he turned to see Resonae come gliding through the foliage with impossible grace. With a bleary-eyed Serenity astride her back. "Ah, you got her. Thank you, Resonae."

He produced a sugar cube which he fed to the Nightmare. She chomped on it eagerly as he patted her snout and glanced up at Serenity. "Sorry for waking you so early."

"' 'sfine." Serenity grunted and stifled a yawn. "Doctors are used to working on minimal sleep and so on."

She batted a length of Resonae's flaming mane out of her face as it tickled her nose. "I'm more concerned with how your pony got into the guest wing of the castle without anyone seeing her. And how she got through closed doors. She doesn't have hands!"

"Unicorns know many tricks." Lyris held out his hand and was pleased when Serenity took it. Helping her down, he guided her over to a picnic table.

"What is all this?" Serenity regarded the coolers placed on one end curiously, but was too tired to poke at them. Instead, she sat down and rested her head in her arms, trying to hide another yawn. Though her eyebrow lifted as Lyrius produce his bottle and poured them each a glass. "And why do you have alcohol so early in the morning?"

"It is an Arcadian tradition."

"You get blitzed before dawn? Sounds like fun…."

"Not exactly. It's an apology."

Serenity stared at him blankly. "...what."

"Arcadians believe strongly in the strength of the sun and that it's light can purge away all manner of darkness. Including bad feelings. So it is common when friends have an argument that cannot be resolved, they gather before sunrise, drink and discuss the argument again. If no agreement can be reached when the sun rises, they let the new dawn wash it away like it was a dream."

Serenity blinked slowly. "...okay. Why the booze?"

"So we don't freeze."

"As a doctor, I could tell you why it won't keep us warm. But I won't." She hauled herself upright and took a swig of her glass. "I can tell you how this argument will go down, though. I can't take the necklace off."

"I have given some thought as to how you could be protected without it-"

"No. Okay, yes, I'm not taking it off my own free will. But even if I wanted to, I couldn't. The clasp has vanished." Serenity watched Lyrius' eyebrows jump a bit. "Is that something else it's not supposed to do?"

"I...don't know."

"Well, that kind of ruins this whole argument. And your apology. Which I'm honestly sorry for. It's really kind of a sweet tradition."

"I had intended to let you keep the necklace, anyway. I wanted to use this time to apologize for my hurtful words last night. They were not appropriate in the slightest. And I am very sorry. " Lyrius stared into his own glass contritely. "I know you did everything you could to find and save your brother."

Serenity felt her cheeks color and glanced away as well. "I wasn't doing much better. Attacking your depression like it was your fault and insulting the woman you love like she's just flat-out evil when I know better is not a good call on my end. I'm sorry I said those things."

Lyrius nodded and exhaled carefully. "I also want to explain more clearly why I wanted you to return the necklace. Your comment about my worry that you could become another Shadow Queen was more accurate than you think."

Serenity paused in taking another drink. "You said the magic isn't going to corrupt me."

"It won't. Not in the way a plague or a cancer or an addiction would." Lyrius shook his head. "But Iris started out as you once did. A normal human struggling against odds that were overwhelming. And she so desperately wanted the power to fight back against them."

"So 'power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely'." Serenity continued at his nod. "And you think me having this extra power from the necklace would cause me to slip into that? Do you think that little of me?"

"Not at all. But the threats were are going to face are going to grow more powerful on their own and I am already a lightning rod for trouble. If we train you more in using the necklace, then you would be able to defend yourself." Lyrius paused, eyes darting back and forth as he searched for words. "However, the more you change and use that power, the farther you are drawn into life behind the Veil. The more dangerous it becomes and the lines between right and wrong blur."

"I'm not exactly winning 'Evil Bitch Of The Year' here, Lyrius."

"But how long until you have to make decisions or choices that will compromise your morality? Until using that power became your go-to option instead of a last resort?" Lyrius questioned. "The Shadow Queen rose as an individual because she lusted after power and kept needing more to combat strong enemies. You are a doctor, Serenity and shadow magic does not really come with a 'non-lethal' option. I-"

"I've killed before."

That interruption brought Lyrius up short and he stared at her in surprise. Even Resonae lifted her head up with interest.

"I've worked in the Japanese self defence force, the Red Cross and more, in hellholes, third-world countries, backdoor alleys and even a pirate ship. In none of those instances was I not armed with a handgun or a rifle and in all of those instances, I was forced to use my weapon in defense of my life and of my patients." Serenity couldn't help but smile a little bit as Lyrius' expression. "Hey, you've run wars before. What's the first option you have to increase pressure on an enemy?"

"Shoot the medic."

"Shoot the medic. If the enemy can't heal, they lose men. If they know they don't have a medic, they won't take as many risks for fear of getting seriously wounded. If you capture the medic, you can force them to heal your guys on top of all that. And if you're a female in a warzone, you're a high risk for rape." Serenity was in full doctor mode, hands clasped before her as she looked levelly at him. "Taking a life is something I do with great reluctance as a healer, but not to the extent it endangers myself or my patients."

Lyrius nodded after a moment, but his expression was still serious. "Magic is an entirely different animal, Serenity. It is _easy_ power. And I do not doubt that Iris started off much like this. Wanting to defend herself. But it can escalate quickly. Not all magic is the same and against some, the only option to defend yourself is to attack first."

"I know. I've seen what can happen when someone gets easy power. Like a gun. Or a car. Even a knife." Serenity worked her thumbs over one another a few times a she bought, very aware of the feeling of cold metal against her skin. "It's a slippery slope sometimes."

She reached out and took his hand in her own. When he looked at her, she smiled and gave his fingers a squeeze. "But I have you. To teach me how to use this safely. And I'm not Iris. I don't have that much hatred in me. Or a demon to make a pact with."

"This is true. I just do not want to you compromise yourself for the sake of trying to help me. And if you are to help me, to be informed about everything so you can make a smart decision." Lyrius squeezed her hand back.

"Well, I'm out here in the freaking cold at god knows what hour drinking with a strange man and his magical pony, so I can only move up the ladder on smart decisions." Serenity grinned as Lyrius laughed a little and they both took a drink of their wine.

When they finished, Serenity pushed her glass over to him for a refill. "Now that you've said your piece, Lyrius, I just want you know why I'm deadset on having this necklace and its power. I don't want to abandon you. Or leave you fight alone. You've done that too long and it's killing you. And I don't want to be afraid, either. Not of Castiel or anyone else we encounter. I want to be able to protect myself."

"That is a smart attitude. And you are also right about being taught to use the magic of the necklace. I will do what I can to help you master it. As will Voltaire, I'm certain." Lyrius refilled her glass.

"Speaking of Voltaire, I want to know everything about you and him!" She leaned forwards eagerly. "I've got to know how I measure up to my husband's previous lovers."

"That is a cover story, not fact." Lyrius sighed as she just gave him a cute look. "Must I?"

"Yes! And don't be shy - I want all of the sordid details!"

"Oh, look. The sunrise." Lyrius pointed out over the ocean.

Serenity pouted, but followed his finger to the horizon. The sun was indeed poking the first few feeble rays of light over the water. Long-fingered red hands stretching across the sky while sheets of molten gold crested with the waves of the ocean. A solitary cloud, puffy and white, became alight with copper and yellow flames that made it resemble a baby sun.

It was a breathtaking view and Serenity could physically see the light crawling toward their little picnic area. "So. We cool on this whole apology and necklace thing?"

"Very cool." Lyrius agreed and they clinked their glasses together.

Serenity watched the sunrise some more. "Are they this beautiful in Arcadia?"

"Even more so. It is like the sunlight can illuminate the very magic in the island's air and its ground and its trees and flowers. The whole kingdom is holding its breath, sparkling and silent as the sun rises. And for a few minutes, there is peace over the entire place."

"Sounds gorgeous. Do think I can see it someday?"

"Perhaps."

"Did it inspire you to paint?"

"Sometimes." Lyrius smiled slightly. "Though the more beautiful things it revealed to me were often a greater inspiration. Such as my wife's smiling face."

"Flatterer." Serenity giggled at the compliment, then froze in thought. "Wait. Are you talking about Iris or me?"

"I suppose since I rented this campsite, I should get started on breakfast." Lyrius got up quickly and grabbed one of the styrofoam coolers, popping it open and rummaging around. "Resonae, could you get a fire going?"

"What - hey! Answer the question! Iris or me?"

"Yes."

A frustrated scream joined the rooster's caw in welcoming the sun that morning.

TTTTTTT

With a steaming mug of tea clenched between her hands and her back resting against a surprisingly warm Nightmare flopped on the ground while the scent of fish, bacon and other delicious things filled the air, Serenity was finding it hard to remain grumpy at her would-be husband.

Not for lack of trying, mind you. But all of her half-hearted glares, scowls and her tongue-being stuck out were easily deflected by his surprisingly cute smirk whenever he glanced her way and the fact he was doing amazing tricks with that knife in his hand as he sliced up food for cooking. She was going to just have to let it go.

"So, did you and Iris ever fight so bad you had to come and watch the sunrise together?"

"Many a time. Though sometimes alcohol and rational words weren't enough to cool heated burning emotion and a few sunrises went to waste."

"Awww. That's sucky. So what if booze didn't work, what else did you try?"

"Sex."

Serenity giggled at the thought. "Really?"

"Making love can convey feelings that no words could and doing so in the heat of the moment can bring out true passion."

"Sex in the light of the morning sun…" Serenity pursed her lips in thought, then nodded. "Yeah, that sounds like something I'd want to do. Lyrius, insult me again. Make me mad."

He lifted his head from his cooking. "If you truly wanted sex, we could just have it."

"No, no, gotta follow tradition and do it right."

"You're trying to plan out a _whim_ , which by definition, cannot be planned out."

"Exactly. Which is how I'm going to make it work." Serenity gestured to herself. "C'mon, insult me!"

Lyrius sighed. "Serenity, your hair is ugly, you have crow's feet and I don't like how you hum when doing housework."

"...that's it? And what's wrong with my humming?"

"I'm sorry I can't muster up the necessary antagonistic feelings to insult a woman I care about."

"Pfft. That's what you get for being such a nice, sweet, caring not-husband to your not-wife." Serenity took a drink of her tea. "Silly boy."

"Yes, what was I thinking that being polite, kind and respectful to my not-wife was the way to go?" Lyrius rolled his eyes.

"Your loss that you can't insult me. If you did well enough, I was going to try out letting you ride me in a way that'll make cowboy's jealous."

Lyrius paused, then lifted his head from his cooking to meet Serenity's gaze. The doctor made a kissy face at him and winked with a giggle.

A moment passed.

Lyrius went back to his cooking. Serenity pouted.

"If you're going to try that position, please let my author know in advance so he can prepare."

Both of them turned to see a rather disheveled and tired-looking Voltaire plod his way out of the forest. Serenity frowned. "Umm...what did you say?"

"Food."

"That's not what he said." Serenity glanced at Lyrius. "He said something before walking in here, right?"

"I have long stopped paying attention to half of what Voltaire says. Somehow, I still don't manage to miss anything of importance." Lyrius said dryly.

"Food." Voltaire stumbled over to the campfire, staring hungrily at the sizzizling food on the grill.

"See?"

"Has he been up all night?" Serenity peered at the Shadowchaser's mussed up clothing and hair. "There are twigs and leaves in his hair…and he has that glassy-eyed look you get from lack of sleep."

"They always look like that." Lyrius scowled a bit and then sighed as the newcomer caught sight of him, smiled and plopped down on the ground next to him. A moment later, Voltaire was leaning on him heavily and snuggling. "Must you?"

"Mmm...indeed I must," the Shadowchaser nodded without opening his eyes. "You smell wonderful Lyra…"

"That would be the food."

"You smell of bacon and nature."

"Still the food, Voltaire."

"Why do you call him Lyra?" Serenity interjected politely, her smile perfectly innocent as Lyrius glared. If he would not answer, she would find another source.

"Mmm...Lyrius makes a pretty woman…" Voltaire muttered sleepily.

"..." Serenity glanced down at her drink. Then downed it. Then squinted at Lyrius. "Well, if I ignore the brooding scowl and squint real hard…"

"I was undercover infiltrating a dance party with some elves. I was persona-non-grata there, so by changing my hair color and style, effective use of make-up and a corset, I was able to do so as Lyra instead of Lyrius."

"Dress was pretty on you…"

"Voltaire was also there, though by personal invite and we wound up as dance partners throughout the evening. At the time, his company was pleasant and my target for infiltration was not there yet, so I took him into my confidence to make things smoother for the future." Lyrius sighed as Voltaire leaned into him some more with a happy sigh. "Not a word out of you about what else I took in or I will fry you up next for the second course!"

"Kinky."

Serenity was giggling so hard her drink was coming out her nose. "That's really kind of cute!"

Lyrius was pink now and he hurriedly shrugged Voltaire off himself. "If you want to sleep, go lay next to the Nightmare. She is far warmer than I am and I have to cook."

"But soft…" Voltaire was trying to hide his face in Lyrius' hair.

"Resonae. Come fetch."

 _(If you insist,_ _Master_ _.)_ Resonae got up, ignoring the pout she got from Serenity at the loss of her pillow as she did so. Trotting over to the campfire, she reached down and picked up Voltaire by the scruff of his duster like a cat would with a kitten. A few more deft movements and Voltaire was deposited on the ground.

The Nightmare studied him for a few moments and then frowned. _(Master, this human is not paying proper attention to my magnificence.)_

"That is not my problem."

 _(Fix it!)_

"No. I'm afraid Voltaire is beyond fixing."

Resonae stamped her hoof in frustration and glanced around. Serenity shrugged at her and the Nightmare's frown deepened. Then her eyes alighted on a bottle of water on the table. With an impossibly delicate motion, she knocked it over into Voltaire's face.

"SEVEN HELLS THAT'S COLD!" Voltaire bolted upright, spluttering and wiping at his glasses with his sleeve. "Lyrius, what the hell!?"

"You were sleep-talking again."

"Oh." Voltaire nodded to himself. "Well, that's what happens when I don't sleep for a few days straight. Should really get back into the habit."

He pulled off his glasses as he stood, wiping some more water off of them with whatever dry portion of his shirt he had. After checking they were clean, he replaced them and turned around. Right into the grinning face of Resonae. "Hello."

 _(Hi.)_ She bared her fangs.

Lyrius marveled at how one could practically hear the gears in Voltaire's brain grinding to a halt, then jump-starting with a jolt that sent them all into full tilt. His eyes widened and a smile of pure delight spread over his face in slow motion.

"AAAAAAAHHHHH!"

Resonae barely had time to flinch away from the noise before she found a pair of arms being thrown around her neck.

"YOU ARE THE CUTEST THING I HAVE EVER SEEN!" the Shadowchaser squealed so loudly that several birds in nearby trees took flight.

( _That_ _'s too much attention!_ ) Resonae declared, straining to release herself from the human's death grip. ( _Master, save me!_ )

Lyrius looked up from his grill at the vainly back-pedaling Nightmare, dragging Voltaire like the world's gaudiest necklace behind her. "Just about to start pancakes. Serenity could assist."

"Mmmm...no, Serenity is enjoying this far too much," the doctor crossed her ankles and nibbled on a carrot stick. "You're on your own, Resonae."

 _(What kind of herd abandons their matron in her hour of need?)_ Resonae demanded fiercely. Seeing Voltaire wasn't going to let go, she growled and started jerking her head. _(I trusted you, metal human! And this is how you repay me?)_

"You wanted the attention, girl. You got it. Not my fault you picked the world's biggest secret nerd."

"There's no secret about it." Lyrius put in and sighed as Resonae stomped over to him, practically dragging Voltaire behind her. "Voltaire, let go. Or she is going to bite your face off."

"Hmm? Oh well why didn't you say so?" The Shadowchaser did as instructed, his eyes still locked on the Nightmare as she put several very large steps between them. "Oh Lyra she is _beautiful_! Where on earth did you find her?"

"Africa."

"And you wrestled her into submission? In front of the entire herd?"

"No, I gave her chocolate and she followed me out like a puppy. Yes, I defeated her in single combat in front of the herd. And family of elephants, _and_ a roc." Lyrius rolled his eyes as Resonae peered over Voltaire's head at him. "There is no chocolate, Resonae."

( _What sort of human courtship ritual does not even have chocolate?!)_

"Courtship?" Lyrius frowned at her. "Just who am I courting? Him?" He gestured at Voltaire with the spatula.

"If you are, you're doing a marvelous job of it. She is absolutely _gorgeous_!" Voltaire had gone from glassy-eyed to starry-eyed, and he reached out to touch Resonae's face. The Nightmare snapped at him.

( _Touch me, and you lose the hand!_ )

"More importantly," Serenity interjected with a curious frown. "How do you know what human courtship rituals involve?"

( _I have been...observing others on this island. From what I have gathered, flowers, chocolates and jewels are the key ingredients for success._ )

"...you've been spying on other people's dates?" Lyrius stared at his mount in disbelief.

( _It's not spying if they do it in the open!_ ) Resonae huffed and tossed her head.

"Huh...like the equestrian version of reality TV," Voltaire mused.

"And why do you think is a courtship ritual in the first place?" Lyrius asked. "You know full well I wanted you to get Serenity so I could apologize."

 _(_ _You_ _take her to see a beautiful sunrise, you speak sweetly to her, you prepare delicious food for her.)_ Resonae rattled off, her mane and tail flaring briefly as Voltaire made another attempt to pet her. _(I am surprised you have not asked me to leave so that you may attempt to impregnate her,_ _Master_ _. Though if you desire to assert your superiority, I will remain.)_

The Nightmare didn't seem to notice the stunned looks all three humans were giving her, though she did give Serenity an approving nod. ( _I approve of your choice in mates,_ _Master_ _. Despite her age, I am sure she will bear you many strong foals.)_

Lyrius stared at his mount, his mouth twitching like he couldn't decide if he should break into a scowl to scold her or laugh. A glance at Voltaire showed he had simply chosen to go bright red. He shot Serenity a look.

She just smiled like a tease. "If my husband wants foals, I had better getting some chocolate first."

Like the bursting of a dam, Voltaire suddenly erupted into laughter, falling over onto his back, legs kicking at the air as he laughed like a rabid hyena.

"How about breakfast instead?" Lyrius started scooping the steaming grits, bacon, sausage and everything else into bowls trying to ignore his ex doing a disturbingly accurate rendition of the Joker.

"It's a start."

TTTTTT

"Do you have a charmingly vicious, surprisingly snarky animal friend, Voltaire?"

"Mm, pardon?" Voltaire looked up from the binder of cards he was paging through. "Oh, not in the way of a Nightmare. But I do have a Hellhound, though."

"Hellhound?" Serenity paused in her sorting of cards, a half-dozen different stacks of varying heights in front of her. "Like...from actual hell?"

"Oh, yes. Smells of brimstone all the time." Voltaire must have noticed her concerned expression, because he added with a smile. "Though he's more than likely to lick face off than damn your soul to the eternal pits or anything."

"To be fair, both have the net result of ending up in your death." Lyrius put in from where he was washing the breakfast dishes.

"Baskerville can be kind of overeager at times, but he means well." Voltaire countered with annoyed wave in Lyrius' direction. "He's really just a giant puppy."

"That is the size of a small car, has teeth that can shear through metal and drools hard enough to fill a bathtub in five seconds."

"You're being very unkind, Lyra." In spite of his words, there was no real reproach in Voltaire's voice. Instead he turned another page in the binder over. "Ooh, you have a copy of Nine-Tailed Fox!"

"Yeah. Tried to build a Zombie deck years ago. But the yokai kind wasn't very big, so I gave up." Serenity was still sorting cards. "Also, stop being mean, Lyrius or I won't give you foals."

"I do not want foals." Lyrius huffed. "And I do not recall volunteering to wash the dishes, either."

"But we are busy and you are so generous," Serenity insisted, giving him the biggest eyes she could muster.

Lyrius felt a muscle in his face twitch.

Her eyes almost shone softly. "For me? I promise I'll make it up to you…"

He stared back at her, then grunted and resumed washing the dishes. "I am a weak man."

Resonae snorted with the unicorn version of laughter. _(It is the way of things,_ _Master_ _. Stallions are mighty, but mares rule the world._ _You_ _are all helpless before our sublime glory.)_

Her cheek got her a noseful of suds and she cantered backwards, snorting and failing to get rid them. Instead leaving a trail of bubbles her wake. She dropped her side, forehooves wiping at her snout desperately. ( _The_ _smell of lemons is overpowering! It burns, it burns!)_

"Your glory was short-lived, Resonae." Lyrius watched her for a minute, then glanced over at Voltaire. "Now that you're fed and stable enough to play with trading cards, did you find anything out last night?"

"Castiel has to be in the castle. I checked every nook and cranny I could find and with every scrap of magic I could muster. There isn't anywhere on the island he could hide to avoid the sun's rays but the castle."

"What about the mountain?" Lyrius pointed at the towering pile of rock that dominated the view of the island's interior.

"Mmmm…" Voltaire scratched his cheek. "I thought about that, too. But the mountain is unscalable without heavy climbing gear. Too sheer and rocky."

"But he's a vampire, right? Can't he just use his super strength to climb up there or turn into a bat to fly?" Serenity wanted to know.

"Don't believe everything you read in fiction, my dear. Vampires may be stronger than humans, but strength itself doesn't mean much if you can't get a grip on what you're climbing. And Castiel doesn't operate in the right school of vampire magic to shapeshift." Voltaire grinned a bit when Serenity gave him a confused look. "Vampires, you see, are very unique in that when they're turned, they are naturally shoved into a select group magical skills they have and are locked out of the others. In fact-"

Lyrius walked by, tossing the towel he'd been drying his hands over Voltaire's head like a shroud. "It's night time, Voltaire."

"...well, it's not a bad idea." Voltaire mused, the bottom hem fluttering as he spoke. "I've never had lemon scented dreams before. Maybe I'll dream about a lemon cake! Oooh, that'd be nice…"

"Not now." Serenity pulled the towel of his head and bonked him on the nose with it. "We're talking about _a_ vampire, not all vampires."

"Right, yes. At any rate, I suppose Castiel could have a tent or rented a cabin, but I've been on his heels nonstop since Gallowmere. He hasn't had the chance to resupply and or even feed properly. He's desperate and starving."

"Meaning he'd hide in the castle because he could lose himself in the crowd and have his pick of prey." Lyrius concluded. "And we have his Orichalcos stones. He won't be leaving without them. Bartlett was probably the only supplier who was willing to deal with him."

Voltaire sighed. "He might cut his losses if he thinks he can't get them from us. He's desperate, not stupid. We can't just use them as bait - it's far too obvious a trap."

"What about me?" Serenity asked, shuffling a stack of cards together. "He knows who I am, has an interest in me and if I carry the stones with me, it might be too tempting for him to resist."

She glanced up when she realized she wasn't getting a response from the two men. Both of them had 'are you kidding?' expressions plastered on their faces. "Hey, don't give me that! We need to find this guy! If we can't bait him, why don't we, I dunno, use magic! It's called scrying, right?"

"We would if we could, Serenity." Voltaire shook his head. "But scrying usually requires something of the person you want to see on hand to form the spell, like their blood. Or a magical object. Or a finger."

"And we don't have anything of Castiel's." Lyrius finished.

"Okay, so we can't track the vampire…" Serenity folded her arms, staring down at the table. Then she jerked her head up. "What about the Orichalcos he already has! We have the stones he wanted! We don't have to track him, we just have to track the Orichalcos!"

Voltaire stared as he processed this, his expression morphing into a big grin. "Oh, that's bloody brilliant! I can't believe I didn't think of that before! I mean, I never had access to the corrupting, twisted dark magic of the Orichalcos before, but even so!"

Lyrius' reaction wasn't quite as strong, but he was looking very thoughtful. "That would work. Castiel would be desperate to keep whatever stones and cards he had close." He smiled at Serenity. "That is a very clever idea. Good work."

"Awww." Serenity found herself blushing and brushed some of hair behind ear sheepishly. "Thank you."

She blinked as she caught sight of something new. Resonae, having realised that she was getting no sympathy for her earlier predicament, had wandered off into the woods and now pranced back and forth around a massive tree, staring resolutely up into the branches. She snorted and pawed at the ground in frustration, tossing her fiery mane in irritation. Occasionally, she would rear up and slam her forehooves into the tree. It would shake and leaves would fall and a frightened whine would emerge alongside them, but other than that, whatever was up the tree stubbornly refused to budge.

"Lyrius, I think that tree pissed off your pony."

"What?" Lyrius lifted his head in the direction Serenity was pointing. Frowning, he got up and wandered over to his mount. "Resonae, you better not have treed a squirrel again. I am not climbing up there for you."

 _(It is not a squirrel, though I would very much like to kill it.)_ Resonae snorted and took a swipe at the trunk with her horn, gouging a thick line out of it. And causing the tree to whimper once more.

Lyrius looked up into the branches, only somewhat surprised to see a very large dog balanced precariously on a very smell branch. "You treed Baskerville. Wonderful."

 _(He licked me!)_ Resonae snapped indignantly.

"You treed a dog?" Serenity had come over to join Lyrius and was twisted her head to look up into the leaves. "Whoa. Big dog."

Serenity had seen dogs before, but she wasn't used to seeing them having the kind of body mass to rival a bear, or having eyes that gleamed like hot coals. A thick coat of gun metal gray fur was currently sticking up out of alarm as the beast somehow managed to scoot ever so slightly farther along the tree branch, never taking his eyes off of Resonae.

"Ooohh, dear…" Voltaire also joined the group, sighing at the sight of his pet companion in the branches. "You daft dog, how in god's name did you climb up there!?"

 _(He had excellent motivation.)_ Resonae bared all of her fangs slowly.

"Well, come down from there, boy." Voltaire commanded. "The Nightmare won't hurt you."

Baskerville whined, just scooting farther along his branch, apparently hoping the foliage would hide him from the unicorn and she'd forget about him.

"Come on, now. I promise, Resonae isn't going to bite you." Voltaire gave the Nightmare a warning look. "Right?"

( _I will not bite him._ ) Her mane and tail lit up a bit brighter as she smiled with her fangs again.

Lyrius figured out what she was going to do before the others. "Resonae, no-!"

A burst of gold magic seared from the Nightmare's horn and sliced through Baskerville's branch like it was a hot knife through butter.

The old saying may have gone that cats always landed on their feet, but it seemed dogs did not enjoy the same luxury. Gravity wreaked its revenge as Baskerville tumbled down and landed on top of Resonae hard enough to shake the ground.

They stared at the Hellhound as he lay sprawled on top of Resonae, and as was expected, his first response was a sudden wagging of his tail. His tongue lolled out in a happy pant and somehow the beast seemed to make the transition from 'intimidating demon spawn' to 'oversized puppy'.

It was promptly ruined as with an impressive amount of strength for a much slender animal, Resonae got to all fours with Baskerville draped over her back like an oversized rug. Her eyes narrowed and flames in her mane flared in size. And intensity as Baskerville yelped in sudden pain, throwing himself off the Nightmare. He crashed to the ground, rolling around a bit before landing upright and staring cross-eyed at the smoldering tip of his nose.

 _(And who_ _'_ _s the top of the food chain, dog?)_ Resonae demanded tossing her head imperiously with a glare.

Baskerville just gave her the biggest eyes he could manage, whimpering cutely.

 _(_ _That_ _'s what I thought.)_ Resonae nodded with satisfaction...then went stock still as Baskerville licked her cheek with a happy bark.

"Oh no." Serenity buried her face in her palm.

Lyrius just sighed as Resonae's fangs were bared again.

"Baskerville! For the love of the gods, you were smart enough to figure out licking that lamppost in winter was a bad idea after doing it once!" Voltaire gestured to the Nightmare. "Just leave the bloodthirsty horse alone!"

He yelped as a streak of gold light zipped by his head.

 _(_ _YOU_ _own this mongrel!? And dare call me a horse!?)_ Resonae snorted, hoof pawing at the ground.

"Lyrius…" Voltaire tugged on his arm without taking his eyes off of the Nightmare. "What do I do?"

"Don't run. You'll only make it worse."

There was a crash as Baskerville bowled over the picnic table, cards, coolers and plates flying through the air. Resonae was right behind him, teeth snapping at his tail dangerously close.

Serenity had both hands gripping her hair, staring in shock even as Resonae charged after the Hellhound. "We said DON'T RUN!"

 _(Come back here, you oversized puppy! I am going to stuff you and mount you on a wall)_

"...she won't really do that, will she?"

Lyrius shrugged. "I haven't the faintest idea. She usually just eats her kills."

"Oh." Voltaire processed this...then bolted after the two animals. "Climb a tree, Baskerville! She can't get you up there!"

Serenity watched the little procession leave, her mouth a little slack. "Our cards are everywhere! It's going to take ages to collect them and figure out what belongs to who!" She groaned, burying her face in a hand. "I was not prepared for this when I woke up."

"I was."

Serenity gave Lyrius a disbelieving look, even as he held up the bottle of wine from earlier and was already pouring a glass.

"...yeah, okay. Give me one, too."

TTTTTTT

Pain was his lifeblood. The specter that haunted his existence.

He was close to exorcising it. So close!

The crystal tree, as wide as he was tall, stood before him, jagged, angular branches sprawling in all directions to sink into the gray stone like glowing fractures of the wounded earth. Thick, pear-shaped fruit hung from those branches, tempting, promising. The oily skin was flecked with a shimmering rainbow in the light from the Orichalcos - the soul within glowing with such strength that a single bite could finally relieve the vampire of the ache that filled his being.

But it was a lie.

Castiel reached up and plucked one of the fruits off with a gentle tug. It sloshed and shifted in his hand like a water balloon, molding to his every motion as the weight bounced around. He stared at it, then snorted and pressed a claw into the rubbery skin.

The skin split almost instantly at his touch, peeling away like it was alive while thick, lumpy fruit poured out. The sickly sweet stench of rot filled the air and he tossed the fruit away in disgust. It thumped wetly against the stone wall of the cavern before peeling off with a ugly noise and dying on the floor beneath it.

He stared at the tree in frustration, the raw hunger in him roaring in equal anger at being denied. He could feel the souls trapped within the tree, the pulse of their untapped power...and the song of their corruption. This tree had done something to them as it processed them - the vampire hadn't the faintest idea what it had done, but it had made them... _wrong_ , for lack of a better term. The Orichalcos couldn't absorb them at all.

Which was impossible. Souls were souls. The thing that made living beings alive. You could take them, use them, sell them, stuff them somewhere else, devour them, even destroy them if you were strong enough. But you couldn't change them - not like this. Good or bad, the Orichalcos should have just taken them.

Castiel reached into a pocket and produced a small, marble-sized piece of the Orichalcos. One of the few he had left. He rolled it in his palm, watching as it began to light up slowly. Almost like it was warmed by the vampire's cold flesh.

He paced as it grew brighter, starting to bounce it up and down lightly. Back and forth, up and down, over and over. Psyching himself up. It was ridiculous.

 _I am vampire._ _The_ _world should be my plaything. My eternal life means everything is transient to me, that even the wealth of kinds could age to dust through the passage of time and this blasted stone should have no more worth to me than a real marble!_ His good eye fixed on the orb as it moved, glaring so forcefully he was sure the Orichalcos stone would fly apart. _I will not be beholden to this..this...trinket's power! I am not some feeble human!_

But no matter how angry his thoughts were, how ferociously pure, they never held. He could crush it in his grip, he knew, squeeze until the magical stone was powder and its light extinguished. Then do the same to all the others he had in his possession.

 _But the hunger.._.The shining stone whispered to him. _Your craving_ _…_ _you need the light_ _…_

"SILENCE!" Castiel spun, snatching the stone out of the air and hurling it into the tree's trunk. Neither shattered even as the entire tree shook from the force the impact. The rattling branches filled the cavern with an off-key chiming, a mockery of song even as fruit fell to burst all over over the floor.

The Orichalcos flared brighter as it sank into the tree's trunk. The teal light spread like a spiderweb, boring out paths through the crystal with ease. Castiel watched, not sure if it was going to work. Not sure if he wanted it to. Hoping it would.

With a noise like gears grinding to a halt, the expansion of teal light ground to a dead stop. The tree trembled, the off-kilter chiming almost unbearably loud. With a thunderous crack, the Orichalcos stone exploded out of the tree and hissed by Castiel's head. It slammed into the cavern wall, shattering with a pathetic tinkling noise as its light faded away.

Castiel screamed in frustration, clutching at his mask as the face underneath burned. The Orichalcos was angry at being denied, at being defiled and he could feel its hunger feeding on him. Clawing at his own soul, sucking down the scraps and demanding more. Not realizing that it was repairing that same soul with energy from those scraps, a snake forever eating its own tail.

The Orichalcos needed more strength. _He_ needed more power. More souls. More souls laden with magic, enough to overcome the tree's resistance. Then he'd have the hundreds of souls trapped within. Enough to rip the Orichalcos' possession out of his body, enough to heal him.

A healer…

Serenity.

Serenity was still here. The doctor with dark magic. He could almost visualize the tendrils of shadow and blood weaving their way into her soul. Corrupting it. Damming it. Strengthening it.

 _Her brother's own soul was one worth hundreds of thousands and empowered the Leviathan._ Castiel straightened, the realization calming the hunger for a moment. _And I am no Leviathan. I am just one. Her soul with that magic, it_ _would be_ _like consuming a hundred all at once._

The memory of Doctor Death's wicked grin flashed through his mine and it sharpened his lips into a smirk. _If she fell further into that power, if she embraced the shadows in her heart...she could be more than a hundred. Far more._

And if she wasn't, then that Shadowchaser and their necromancer friend would be. But he wasn't strong enough to fight all three of them. Not without killing them and leaving him unable to take their souls. Even a great and powerful vampire had to know his limits.

The vampire reached into his pocket, pulling out a small stack of Orichalcos cards with so many different, panicked faces of his prey trapped underneath. Part of him wanted him to retire away, just so he could pin them all on his wall as a display of his superiority. Like all those butterflies under glass he'd once had. Along with the neighbor's pet birds.

But there was time enough for that later. He paged through the cards easily until he found the one wanted- one that showed a red-haired woman, her mouth wide in fear and showing off her lovely fangs.

Holding the card up, he scraped a claw over the image. "Miss Bartlett, it does seem you'll be returning to your body after all. Pity it won't be under your own violation."

The card glowed teal and then a single sphere of light popped out. He snatched it before it could fly away, uncaring as it struggled in his grip. "Enough of that. You are mine. You belong to the Orichalcos."

It stopped struggling and the light waned, pulsing in resigned acceptance.

"Good. Go back to your home." Castiel sneered. "Find my enemies and take the red-headed woman. Bring me Serenity Wheeler."

He opened his hand, the light floating away and shooting out of the cavern.

"I must feed…"

TTTTTTT

"Voltaire, are you sure you're okay?"

"My dear doctor, I am just fine. Just a bit chilly."

"Chilly? You lost a shade of color and I think there's frost forming on your eyebrows!"

"Well, Mister Lessiux is proving particularly good at handing out icy glares when people show up with a lack of results asking for his help." Voltaire readjusted his glasses, pointedly ignoring the how badly fogged over. "Or maybe he's got ice water in his veins."

"I've certainly spoken to nicer people. Like executioners. Or morally-bankrupt politicians." Serenity rubbed her good arm, trying to rid herself of the goosebumps. "The aura he was putting off...felt warm and freezing at the same time. I swear that office plant he had was dying as he got angrier at us…"

"Aura?" Voltaire gave her a curious look. "Like magical aura and not just angry businessman?"

"Yeah."

"He's an Aware human and I grant you there's something unique about him, but he's certainly no wizard or sorcerer. He's just a very talented and ruthless businessman with a mysterious past about to a private island and has expressed interest in hiring Pro Duelists at some point down the road." Voltaire waved Serenity's concern away. "I'm sure nothing nefarious will come of it. Though maybe something newsworthy…"

"Right. You're mister genre-savvy. " Serenity rolled her eyes at the Shadowchaser and then squinted a little. "Was that mark on your cheek always there? Looks like a scar…"

"Mark?" Voltaire reached up to touch the cheek in question. "That, my dear, is my Shadowchaser mark. Signalling to the world that I am a Shadowchaser, law enforcer and bringer of justice." He frowned at her. "Which you should not be able to see as a ordinary human."

"I think it might be my necklace." Serenity gestured to it. "I didn't get that creepy aura out of Jean-Claude the first time I met him, but I did this morning. I think I might be becoming more magical."

Voltaire eyed her with skepticism. "What makes you so sure?"

"Besides the mark I'm not supposed to be able to see on your face?"

"Yes."

"My teeth are freaking perfect."

Voltaire blinked, a bit stunned. "Beg pardon?"

Serenity smiled broadly, revealing perfectly white and straight teeth.

"My word, I can almost see myself in those…" Voltaire murmured. "Flossing really _does_ pay off."

"Voltaire, I spent twenty years without access to toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss, mouthwash or a dentist. Last time I could stand to look, my teeth were stained yellow and ugly. This morning, I've got a supermodel smile." Serenity wriggled her nose. "My breath is also minty all the time."

"Can't say I ever expected such a mundane kind of magic out of a dark queen's evil necklace, but stranger things have happened. I wonder what exactly which spells she put in there for hygiene...be dead useful for long term missions out in the wilderness."

"If you two are done expositing to each other," Lyrius spoke up from where he was examining a large metal door. There was no handle or lock and strangely, he was using a small tool to carve odd little symbols into the brick surrounding it. "You could do me a favor and take a few steps back. I am about to open this door."

"Already?" Serenity complied with the request even as she gave him a look. "We've only been in this sub-basement for like ten minutes and you said Castiel had warded the door shut with some strong magic."

"Correct."

"So how are you going to open it-" Serenity didn't bother finishing the question as Lyrius stepped back himself. He snapped his fingers and the symbols lit up. In unison, they all exploded with enough precision to destroy the brick they were etched on without disturbing their neighbors. Without the frame to hold it up, the door crashed forwards into the floor with a noise like a gong. "Oh."

"I thought for sure you were just going to brute force it down." Voltaire commented, wafting away a bit of smoke coming from the door's edges.

"I do not have my sword and the two animals can't fit in here." Lyrius nudged the door with his foot. "Amateur. A cleverer enemy would have magically sealed the door frame as well as the door."

"You sound like you've done this before."

"My daughter used to be very good at locking her mother and I out of her room. I was forced to improvise."

Serenity stepped around the door, peering into the tunnel that lay behind it. It was weathered stone, large enough for two people to walk side-by-side. But the darkness in there was deep and she couldn't tell how far it went. A tingle washed over, the hairs on the back of her neck standing up. "I have a feeling of some bad mojo down there…"

"The Orichalcos can do that to a person." Voltaire peered in with her. "So. Who wants to go down the creepy dark tunnel with the dangerous magic using vampire at the first?"

"Not Serenity." Lyrius folded his arms. "It is bad enough for Voltaire and I to risk our lives without yours being in danger. You cannot fight and Castiel has professed interest in you. In this instance, you are a liability, not an asset."

"Yep. I know." Serenity nodded in agreement.

Voltaire was surprised again, eyebrow flying into his hairline. "Did you just agree to staying behind? That's never happened before. Usually when I have these type of situations, the non-combatant usually insists on coming with us or guarding the door or something. And then the whole thing snowballs into a running fight, traps and usually a card game to the death."

"No thank you. I'm perfectly fine going back upstairs and playing fetch with the giant dog. And the pony. And watching the pony beat the dog with the stick for stealing her stick." Serenity patted Lyrius' arm in an affectionate gesture. "Besides, I wouldn't want my not-husband here worrying and fretting for my safety while he and Castiel had a brood-off."

Lyrius sighed. "For the last time, I do not brood."

"Keep telling yourself that," Voltaire smiled.

"You do brood. You get this deep thinking look on your face and it's so intense, like you're unraveling the secrets of the universe. It's really kind of hot." Serenity grinned as pink tinged Lyrius' cheeks and she reached up to pat one. "D'awwww!"

"Go play with Resonae and Baskerville. I'm sure they will be able to give you your fill of cute things." Lyrius huffed.

"Alright." Serenity waved at Voltaire. "Both of you be careful, okay? Coming back home in one piece is part of the job."

"Of course, ma'am." Voltaire bowed gallantly. "Your stalwart protectors shall carry the day and return with victory and glory!"

"Eeeehh, better when Lyrius does it." Serenity giggled at Voltaire's put-out expression and then started for the room's other door. Only to grind to a halt as a strong hand caught her arm. "Lyrius? What gives?"

Lyrius was staring at the far door, expression tight. "Someone is coming."

"So? Maybe it's Jean-Claude wanting an update."

"No. They're coming here fast. Like they're running. Like-" He broke off as something small skipped down the steps and rolled to a halt at the bottom.

Voltaire eyed it with wary confusion. "A piece of obsidian? Why would that be here?"

"Bartlett. Castiel has her soul and we left her body in her room. And she has magical gemstones." Lyrius' eyes widened as the stone began to spark and jerk. He yanked Serenity around, clutching her tight to his chest. "COVER! NOW!"

The piece of obsidian exploded noiselessly.

The light in the room was gone, replaced by darkness so thick that Lyrius nearly choked on it and he couldn't see anything in front of his face. Disoriented, he kept Serenity close to him, backing her against the corner and putting himself in front of her. "Voltaire!"

"I'm fine!" The Englishman's voice said, but it wasn't possible to pinpoint where from. "It wasn't an explosive. It was just a darkness spell. So everyone is blind."

"Including her. Darkvision won't work here." Lyrius frowned, trying to quiet his breathing so he could isolate noises in the room. _Why isn't she attacking us? She's lost the element of surprise and this hinders her as much as us. What's the strategy?"_

Something else clattered down the steps.

"The tunnel! Now!"

"I can't see it!"

Another noiseless explosion. Then another.

The world went still and quiet. Lyrius could no longer hear the sound of his own breathing or Serenity's metal limbs scrapping at the stone. Or Voltaire's nattering stream of chatter.

A silence spell. They were deaf and blind.

A faint glow spread over his arm, then his shirt. Flecks of day-glo green. A glance to his right showed a similar set of spots and dots of color appearing on Voltaire.

Bartlett could see them now.

The first blow sent Lyrius sprawling, having caught him in the side. The next was a claw strike across his face that drew blood.

He could vaguely see the mass of dots of Voltaire rushing to help, only to go flying away and crash into what he hoped was the far wall. Lyrius jumped to his feet, ignoring the pain even as the vampire rained more blows at him. She wasn't skilled in combat, but she made up for with ferocity and power. Only years of reflexes kept her from straight-up overpowering him.

 _She may as well be invisible._ Lyrius lashed out with a counter attack after parrying a blow meant to slice his throat, but only felt his fists brush against her body. _We can't see or hear and if we pull out weapons, we run the risk of just hitting each other._

More blows, more defensive counters, more misses.

He could feel Serenity move behind him, but he pressed her back against the corner, growling a warning neither of them could hear. If she got out from behind him, then Bartlett would tear her apart.

Lyrius was not faring much better, swearing noiselessly as a blocked blow meant her claws shredded his sleeve and arm. Warm blood soaked into the tattered remnants of his clothing.

 _Enough of this._

He dropped his guard and ignore his reflexes telling him that her fist was heading right for his chest. Lyrius let it connect, grunting as the wind was knocked out of him. Then caught her arm in both hands before she could retract it.

He found the elbow joint, seized it and her wrist and twisted in opposing directions. The bone shifted at impossible angles, then broke as Lyrius rammed his knee up into her arm. He couldn't hear her scream, but the way she tore herself free was enough of a clue that she was feeling the injury.

The air in the room shifted. Stirred.

Lyrius frowned. What was Bartlett doing?

The feeling of moving air continued and then something slapped heavily against the floor, making Serenity jump behind him. This was not right. The vampire did not weight that much. It felt like there was something bigger and larger than either of them in the room with them all of a sudden. A bigger presence and body.

 _She can shapechange._

The realization came a little too late as Lyrius felt two somethings whip across his face with enough force to send him flying into the far wall. The impact dazed him, but he got to his feet as fast as he could. Another something lashed out and caught him in the leg, tripping him up. Inhumane footsteps sent tiny tremors through the floor and he felt the bulk of whatever Bartlett had turned into pass over his body.

Light flickered briefly, then again and then became steady. Voltaire was picking himself up off the floor in a hurry, holding a small sphere of glowing blue light in his palm. He rushed towards the doorway to the catacombs, thrusting the light out before him. But all they saw was a large spider's abdomen and rear legs vanishing further into the darkness.

The two men glanced at each other, panting noiselessly into the silence. Both were covered in wounds and blood and still glowing. If they chased after Bartlett, she'd be able to see them coming a mile away and they'd have no chance against a spider in those narrow catacombs with their high ceilings.

They ran down the stairs anyway.

TTTTTTT

Castiel looked up from his phone just as his finger swipe missed, leaving a pile of fruit uncut and mocking laughter from the speaker. "This was far sooner than I expected this to happen."

He watched as the spider scuttled into his cavern, depositing Serenity like she was a sack on the ground. The spider staggered over, fumbling over its own legs and collapsing onto its sides in pain. It began to shrink and twist, features melting together until Bartlett was on her hand and knees. Her whole body trembled violently and Castiel sneered a bit. "Are you bit overtaxed there, dear?"

"So... _hungry…_ " Bartlett rasped out, fangs bared against nothing. " _Blood…"_

Her head snapped up, catching sight of Serenity. The doctor scrambled to her feet, backing away even as the vampire charged for her.

Castiel caught Bartlett by the throat in mid-air, lifting the struggling vampire as high as he could reach. "That one is mine, Bartlett. Mind your manners."

"Need to... _feed_." Bartlett hissed, clawing at his arm ineffectually. "So...hungry…!"

"I suppose having your soul stripped from you and stuffed back into your body would leave you with an appetite." Castiel mused and sneered, his good eye glowing teal. Barlett's struggles slowed as the Seal of Orichalcos appeared on her forehead. "You want to eat, go find the two men who no doubt came chasing after you and drink them. The woman is mine."

He waited until she nodded and then dropped her, Bartlett scrabbling like a wound animal back to her feet. She gave Castiel a dirty look and stared a few moments longer than necessary at Serenity with a desperate hunger before vanishing back the way she'd come.

Castiel turned towards Serenity, a bit surprised to see her staring at the massive tree behind him instead of the vampire himself. "You look like you recognize this thing, doctor."

"This is a Reaping Tree…" Serenity murmured, her eyes tracing the silvery glow of the tree's crystal body piercing and weaving into the stone. She flinched as one of the fruits dropped and exploded messily nearby.

"So it does have a name. A suitable one for a magical plant that collects souls." Castiel looked back down at his phone, finger swiping across the screen to slash more fruit as cheery music played. "Though this one is kind of rotten. The fruit are poisonous and indedible. Do you know anything about that?"

Serenity glanced at him, but the vampire was walking away from her, eye focused on his phone's screen. She still took a couple wary steps back. "Only that the last time a tree had fruit like this, it was because it had absorbed a lot of dark magic."

Castiel nodded ildly. "That explains it. This island suffered from very brutal fighting during World War II and many Japanese soldiers were buried here or left to rot. I imagine all those dead, angry souls fueled the darkness here. This tree has been here long enough to drain all that petty, feeble human hatred into itself."

"You're one to talk." Serenity surprised herself with the words. "You're a vampire wielding Orichalcos. All that stone does is just breed hatred and envy and anger!"

"No, no it doesn't." Castiel rolled his good eye. "The Orichalcos is a drug, doctor. It cranks you up, makes you lower inhibitions. And as all humans are want to do when they get a taste of power, they let all their darker emotions run wild."

He lifted his head to see Serenity glaring at him and sighed. "Do think about it, Serenity. Out of the three wielders of the Orichalcos that you know about- Raphael, Valon and Alistair- were any of them actually out of control in their duels? Or where they just acting like any person would when fed a very convincing lie. Raphael - The Pharaoh is evil, Alistair - Seto Kaiba's just as bad as his adopted father and -" He paused, then shrugged and resumed looking at his phone. "And Valon was just there to round out a group of three, I suppose."

"So if it's a drug, does that make you a junkie, Castiel?" Serenity asked pointedly. "Or, like anyone fed a convincing lie, you believe you're in control of it?"

"Oh, no, no, no, I am _deeply_ aware of the fact the Orichalcos has taken over my life. You see, it is a very powerful battery. Not many items can transmute souls into power - you'd have to be a god to do that. But what a wondrous power you get if you can. You can break all sorts of rules, ignore logic and reason, but.." He paused, tapping his temple with a finger. "The Orichalcos has its own prices."

"You're already mad!"

"Of course I'm mad!" Castiel snapped with such force that Serenity flinched. "The Orichalcos is in my head! It whispers to me, sings to me, taunts me, begs me for more souls! It craves them like a vampire craves blood and there is no satisfying that hunger!"

A chime caught his attention and he was looking back at his phone. "How much are the pineapples worth again? I got some kind of mini-game with them…"

Serenity backed up again and he snorted dismissively at her. "Oh just grab a seat, doctor. Honestly. We both know you can't run away from me or hurt me. And your two friends are probably still lost in the catacombs. So just sit."

Serenity did so, refusing to show grateful she was for the opportunity before her fear-jelly legs gave out underneath her. "What do you want?"

"I want to revive the vampire race from the near-extinction its at. I want to kill Voltaire. I want to be rid of my dependency on the Orichalcos." Castiel lifted his head enough to smile at her. It was the worst kind of smile - the one that should have been warm and gentle but was so devoid of either it was dead. "And you're going to help with all three, my good doctor."

"I don't know anything about vampires, I'm pretty sure Voltaire can't die and if you are dependant on the evil magic stone, that's your own fault." Serenity barked, hoping she sounded as brave as the words felt.

"The only thing you need to know about vampires is that we're better than humans in every way." Castiel drawled.

"Then why'd you guys lose the war with humanity?" Serenity immediately realized that had been the wrong thing to say as Castiel's head lifted with a glare.

"We lost because Dracula sat the war out and didn't bother creating anymore Grand Generals when the rest started dying! We _lost_ because because when the of the Shadowkind on Earth sat on their collective hands when we asked for help, unless they took the opportunity to get some revenge on grudges against us! We _lost_ because the Shadowchasers turned their backs on us when we needed them the most, when humanity threatened a magical species and they did nothing but shake their heads disapprovingly!" The vampire hissed violently. "Now my species, the ones who should be ruling from the shadows and taking anything that catches our eye, teeters on the brink of extinction!"

"You aren't going to save it through the Orichalcos! Or this tree!" Serenity pointed at the Reaping Tree. "I know the man who found these things originally! These trees steal souls and corrupt anyone who uses their power to spawn monsters and god knows what else! You use this thing, you're trading one addiction for another!"

"I _don't_ want the tree, I want the _souls_!" Castiel growled and pointed up at the tree's branches where lights were circling and dancing among the rotten fruit. "Enough souls to restore my own power so I rid myself of the Orichalcos once and for all! So I can _be_ vampire again!"

Confusion brought Serenity's response up short and it must have showed on her face, because the vampire just glared and stalked away to resume playing on his phone again. "I told you the Orichalcos was a drug, doctor and like all drug users, I didn't find out the damage it was doing to me until it was far too late."

The steady 'slash-slash-slash- of _Fruit Ninja_ filled the caver for the next couple of minutes as the vampire stomped around, his pacing growing more and more like a caged animal. "I thought Paradias fools for not tapping into the unrealized potential of the stones at first and I experimented with them. After all, I had access to _real_ magic and didn't need the stones for everything. I wanted them to be batteries, ones that could replenish themselves every person I slew. The foundation on a new vampire kingdom."

"But the Shadowchasers and Dracula tried to hunt me down and stop me. They cut off my allies, my resources, my plans and I leaned on the Orichalcos more and more. Until I was using it just to keep myself alive because I had to go so long between feedings of blood. It changed me and I still used it, gaining diminishing returns and paying greater and greater costs." He gestured to the opera mask covering his face. "I don't wear this because I like it."

The words 'I thought all nutjobs liked to look like they were special and cool' danced on Serenity's tongue, but she wisely didn't say anything. Not with Castiel growing more and more agitated as he paced, gaze focused intently on his phone.

"Until at one point I found something out I could not stand. Drinking blood no longer satisfied me, no longer renewed me. Only souls could do it now. And only souls that I took in through the Orichalcos, through the field spell. I've been trying ever since to gain enough power to break its magical hold on me once and for all."

Serenity couldn't help herself - her inner doctor was facepalming at the vampire's words. "By taking souls with the thing you're trying to break your addiction to?"

"The Orichalcos is a battery - it takes the souls and allows me to absorb them directly. If my health and power are fully restored, I can at least destroy the source of my addiction." He glared at the tree as a fruit split open while still hanging, its guts splattering over the tree's crystal. "This thing would have done it, but I have no way to get the soul from it."

"So you want mine instead." Serenity felt shivers crawl down her spine as the implications sank in.

"Only as a matter of course." More pacing from Castiel. More 'slash-slash-slash' across the phone screen. Despite the score he was apparently racking up, the visible portion of his face growing tighter and tighter. "Yours and your friend's. Maybe Voltaire will finally shut the hell up if I do."

"You won't succeed. They'll stop you."

He scoffed at her words, still slashing away. "They won't. Even if they beat me with to a pulp, they wouldn't beat me. Even if I would _ever_ bow and scrape to a lowly human, I wouldn't stop. I can't because the Orichaclos is always with me, doctor. Always calling for more souls, pushing me, empowering and demanding that I take them even as my own body's craving for blood burns like fire in my veins!"

Serenity began to inch backwards as the vampire's voice grew more and more agitated.

"Every minute, every day, every hour, my twin hungers wrestle in my gut like a pair of starving wolves. They make it hard to think, hard to focus and every second I spend doing something else, is another second my mind is off of them. But I can still hear them howling…" His eye narrowed at the screen like it had offended him. "Playing these stupid, insipid, brain-rotting games, talking to you like you actually matter…!"

The phone shot past her head, shattering explosively against the tree. "All of it just to keep the hunger at bay for a single moment longer!"

He crossed the cavern in the blink of an eye - Serenity's scream cut short as he grabbed her bodily and slammed her against the tree so hard it drove the air out of her lungs. Her metal arm creaked in protest at his grip and she regretted staring down at him - his single was burning with lust and pain, the teal light highlighting his madness.

Then she did scream as his fangs sank into her neck, her cry echoing through the chamber so sharply the Reaping Tree chimed back in response. Her head twisted vainly against the bite, eyes flying wide in horror as she could _feel_ him gulping the blood from her. Castiel so desperate, so driven by hunger that he was biting her again and again, pausing only to lick at the still bleeding holes he had already made.

Pain seized her and Serenity arched against him vainly, her hands tearing at his hair, legs kicking feebly. Her body couldn't process this, didn't understand and she felt herself tremble and shake in her core. Pleasure chased after the pain and her struggles slowed, only the steady pounding of her heart lulling in her ears.

 _Why?_

Some distant part of her wondered if this is where the stories of vampires being sex gods came from. That their biting was an ultimate passion, an aphrodisiac that pushed their prey into helplessness.

 _Why aren't you fighting?_

Serenity could feel his fangs sinking into her neck again absently, almost as if she wasn't in her body. Another gulp, another round of the disgusting feeling of her blood leaving her.

 _He is taking what's yours, he is assaulting you, he is hurting you!_

Darkness clawed at the edges of her vision and the doctor in her head told her that she was suffering a combination of blood loss and suffocation - Castiel was drinking the blood meant to go her to her head and he was crushing her windpipe with how desperate he was.

 _Fight back. You have the power! Fight him!_

That wasn't her voice yelling at her from so far away. It was definitely a woman's voice - a contralto, rich with an accent Serenity couldn't place.

 _He is killing you! He's pouring Orichalcos into your veins!_

Serenity could feel the truth behind that - Castiel's bites were flexing and she could feel it enter her. It reminded her of the time she'd once been bitten by a snake and got a legful of venom.

She was weakening and the pounding of her heart roared louder in her ears, drowning out the woman's voice.

Not more strength in her limbs…

 _Then use the strength of your magic! FIGHT BACK!_

Her magic…

Castiel's tainted presence flowed through her veins, flooding into her heart where the darkness lay.

A drop in a still lake that caused ripples. Ripples that became a storm.

And the darkness roared with it.

Anger flooded Serenity and escaped it a violent snarl. "Release me, you pathetic leech!" The necklace flared and Castiel went flying backward with a shout of pained surprise.

The vampire twisted in the air, landing on his feet and growling. He wiped some blood off his mouth with the back of his hand as Serenity dropped to from the tree to the ground. "Can't believe I forgot to rip the necklace off you first…"

"You were blinded by your hunger, fool. You should know better than to tamper with the powers of darkness." Serenity could feel the holes at her neck healing, the skin knitting back together to become puncture-free. She swiped her good hand through the mess, pulling fingers sticky with blood away.

Serenity caught Castiel's eye, could see the craving still in his good eye. She lifted her hand to her mouth, tip of her tongue sliding up one finger to scrap it clean of blood. "This...is _mine._ "

"NO!" He lunged for her at inhuman speeds, his charge deflected into the tree as her metal fist caught his cheek. The crystal plant cracked and splintered from the force of the impact, smaller branches snapping off and dead fruit smashing everywhere as it fell.

Serenity snapped one of the larger branches off in her metal arm, drawing it back and hurling it like a javelin. The vampire howled as it pierced his shoulder and she laughed as the ugly pink of his blood spurted briefly from the wound. "Is that really what you have inside you, Castiel? And you call yourself a vampire."

Castiel growled, reaching up and ripping out the branch, uncaring as more of his blood dribbled free even as the wound began to knit. He started to rise, only to drop back down as a fruit landed on his head. It split with the impact, its contents soaking into his hair and face.

Serenity just sneered at him and ripped the sleeve off her metal arm. She tossed at him casually. "Here. Clean yourself up. You're a disgrace."

"SILENCE!" Castiel shot towards her again, claws raised to slice her face...and something heavy slammed into his face. The impact lifted him off his feet and carried him back into the tree, the trunk shattering with a noise like a thousand glass vases hitting the ground at once. Branches began to follow, crashing down atop him thunderously and the vampire was buried under a pile of broken, fragmented crystal.

Serenity held out her free hand, her metal one reappearing in the palm in a burst of darkness. She began to reaffix it it to the correct wrist with a cold chuckle. "No one believed me when I said I had one."

She flexed the metal fingers to ensure they worked and studied them thoughtfully. "Poor Voltaire….he got to miss me using it…"

"SERENITY!"

The doctor shielded her face as crystal pile scattered across the cavern, Castiel erupting from it like a force of nature. The vampire stomped forwards, the teal light of the Orichalcos burning to life around him and flaring with his anger. The Seal appeared on his forehead and red light bled into his green eyes. "THIS ISN'T OVER!"

"Oh, don't worry. I'm a doctor. I'll help you with your addiction, vampire." Serenity's wicked grin could have caused nightmares. "By sending you to hell."

Then her eyes widened as she caught sight of Castiel's face, the darkness flickering for a moment. "What have you done?"

"I told you. I used the Orichalcos to survive." Castiel sneered. Or at least, half of his face did. The other half was so warped and twisted movement was nearly impossible. An Orichalcos stone gleamed in his eye socket and two more were half-sunk into the flesh. Thick, pulsing veins connected the three and Serenity felt herself sicken a little as realized she could see the veins twitching rhythmically as they pumped blood. "Oh, don't give me that look. That dark magic you're wielding makes me think you've got an itch to commit some murder."

"It won't be a murder, Castiel." Serenity retorted, letting herself sink into the darkness protectively even as the light of the Orichalcos drew closer. "It's an execution!"

He laughed and clapped his hands. "My, my, how I've missed this little dark spark of yours, Doctor Wheeler. I haven't heard you talk to me like that in decades."

"If you want any mercy, Castiel, you'd best explain how you know me and maybe I'll be inclined to grant you some."

"Mercy? Isn't that part and parcel for being a doctor, Serenity?" He laughed again and held out his hand, the Seal on his forehead flaring. "But then, everyone always thought you to be the soft wallflower. So shy she always hid in Joey's shadow. No one ever realized how dark you could get."

"If you aren't going to explain yourself, then pray to whatever rotten god that'll listen to have mercy on your soul!" Serenity drew back her hand, magic coiling in her palm.

"No, I'll just take yours! With the Seal of Orichalcos!" Castiel's words echoed around the cavern, the Seal appearing at his feet. It began to spin and then grow in size rapidly, Serenity shielding her face as the light from it flooded the cavern. "Prepare for the last duel you'll ever have, Doctor!"

Serenity lowered her arms, but her eyes burned and stung, the world's edges glowing blurry. Spots formed as the Seal's light began to refract and bounce off the hundreds of pieces of Reaping Tree scattered about. _Between using magic and the blood loss...I'm surprised I'm still standing. I need to be able to see to duel…!_

A weight appeared in her hand and she glanced down, surprised to find wisps of shadow trailing from a mask that hadn't been there a moment before. It was angular and meant to cover the top half of her face. _This is...my eliminator mask! Doctor Death's plague mask!_

She stared at it, then raised it to her face and slid it on. It fit wonderfully against her face, the world settling into recognizable lines and the light from the Seal was muted to comfortable levels. Just wearing the mask seemed to pour some strength into her body. She straightened, squaring off against Castiel even as a Duel Disk loaded with her deck appeared on her arm. "Let's do this, Castiel." (SLP: 8000)

"Let's." Castiel had his own Duel Disk and was already pulling cards off of it. "I want to see if you've kept up with your Virus monsters in the last few decades. See if Doctor Death can still write a good prescription for bad health!" (CLP: 8000)

 _He knows my deck? But I've been dead for twenty years and I stopped dueling professionally nearly fifteen years before!_ Serenity scowled at him. "Just who the hell are you!?"

"I've known you since you were little, Serenity. I'm the one who _taught_ you how play Duel Monsters, who created your little persona." Castiel gave her a mocking, self-introductory bow. "Surely you haven't forgotten your big brother!?"

TTTTTTT

 _A/N:_ _Can you believe the nerve of all this character development and plot important things getting in the way of the card games! The sheer cheeky nerve! It's like I'm trying to tell a story instead of just advertising trading cards. :P_

 _I hope your mind is sufficiently rocked by this cliffhanger. I had to work really hard not to spoil it any sooner than I did, but I think the pay of was worth it!_

 _Next time, as Voltaire and Lyrius hunt for their missing friend, Serenity faces off against both Castiel and a part of her past she'd rather stay there! But Castiel's strategy is all fresh and brand-new and if Serenity doesn't prove she's still got what it takes, Castiel's cards will definately have the last word in this duel!_

 _See it all in- Duelist Kingdom: Becoming The Mask!_


	12. Duelist Kingdom: Becoming the Mask!

Kintsugi 12  
By 7th Librarian

 _A/N:_ _Ugh, why does real life take up so much of my time? Between moving, packing, unpacking and_ _a whole host of_ _other things, working this chapter has been an uphill slog. But now it_ _is done_ _and ready for your reading pleasure! Please_ _kindly_ _do_ _partake of a slice and leave a review for the chef - I mean, author!_

Chapter 12: Duelist Kingdom: Becoming The Mask

There was death on the air.

Not the fresh, bloody kind or the rot of decay, but the thick musty kind. The kind that lined your throat when you breathed in and walked inside your skin.. The death that wants to punish you for being alive - it eats the light in your eyes, a dry cold that deadens your limbs that let you feel and smothers all noise until your own terrified breathing fills the ears that let you hear.

Lyrius' dark eyes needed no light, cold melted away from the fury in his blood and he was so quiet he may have as well been a ghost.

But he could not ignore fear.

The death that surrounded him was stirring, half-hearted breaths and weak cackles lurking around every corner, hiding in every shadow. Anticipation at the result of the sharp cries, crack of magic and screams of pain bouncing through the corridors.

 _Serenity…!_

The underground catacombs were a maze. He'd already lost Voltaire, a spider-Bartlett have come surging out of an impossible small passageway before they'd even hit the bottom of the steps. Still trapped by the silence spell and the darkness, coordination had been impossible and the heavy, whirling limbs of the spider had scattered the two men.

He'd encountered Bartlett twice more since he had run around, but each time he'd only avoided the spider's grasp. The narrow spaces gave him little room to maneuver in a fight and without a weapon, using magic strong enough to hurt her would drop the ceiling on him.

 _Even if I find Serenity, I_ _may well_ _lead that vampire right to her. And I am not strong enough to win a two-front fight against her and Castiel!_ Lyrius darted down a corridor as a faint shattering noise slipped free from it, swearing as he about slammed into a dead-end wall. I do not have time for this!

Blood from a strike across his brow was only now drying, and he wiped away the few drops threatening to trickle into his eye. He glanced down at the smear on his hand, rust on his skin thanks to his darkvision.

Blood…

 _I have nothing with an edge._ Lyrius decided that thought was irrelevant as another cry filtered out of the darkness. He lifted his fingers to his mouth, a few sharp nips with his teeth tearing the skin around the nails. Blood trickled down his slender digits as pulled it free and they throbbed with pain, but he didn't care. He flexed a few times, and the trickles became rivulets. He stretched out his hand, palm up and Lyrius murmured and his blood shone. It lifted from his hand with a life of its own, twining and twisting in together in endless threads.

Tracking Serenity would be difficult and made all the worse due to the catacomb's maze-like nature.

But she wasn't Serenity anymore. The magic her necklace wielded was the same as his own. "Point me."

The blood coiled around itself, stretched itself like a piece of string and darted down a passageway.

Lyrius had made it four steps down that path when twin shouts echoed down its length.

"LET'S DUEL!"

There it was, a pulse of corrupted light flaring down the tunnels and the sensation that something ancient and terrible was gaining a presence in this world. The death in the air reacted waiting as if it were more than just a phrase and it cackled a little louder. Eager for one more death to add to their number.

He bolted down the path, uncaring as he slid into a wall as he cornered. _Please! Let me make it in time!_

TTTTTTT

"My… brother?" Serenity stared at the smirking vampire, shock clear on her face despite the mask. "That's not possible…!"

"I thought you were dead, too, but…" Castiel smiled wide and bared his fangs. "Death seems to be optional behind the Veil."

He sneered as Serenity's face tightened, lips becoming a hard line. "Oh, how about that, you figured out my past. But what's with that unhappy face? You should be so happy at our little family reunion!"

"There's a reason my last name is 'Wheeler' and not 'Mastersons', Ryan." Serenity's voice was cold. "When you died, the only tears I shed were the ones of relief!"

"And when I heard _you_ were dead, I shed tears. Tears of frustration at the fact I wouldn't be able to enjoy my little stepsister anymore…" The vampire smiled again, the warped flesh and sick light of the Orichalcos gave him twisted jagged edge. "But here we are again, standing at opposites ends of the dueling field once more!"

He leered, good eye wide. "Tell me, Serenity, do you have the guts to kill me once again!? It hurt so good last time….!"

"Quiet!" Serenity snapped, darkness lining her form as the word reverberated with cold power. "Take your damn turn!"

"I don't remember little sister with such rudeness. But you're right. I need to devour your soul, not here myself prattle on and on." Castiel grabbed a card from his hand. "I already played the Seal, so all I will do is set one monster in defense mode and end my turn."

He watched as the card materialized in front of himself and folded his arms. "Now, come and attack me. Fall deeper into my trap just like last time…." He crooked a coaxing finger. "You'll enjoy it as much as last time, I promise."

Serenity ripped her card from her deck. "Draw! From my hand, I activate Spellplague!"

The pillar of mutated living flesh rose in front of her with a faint glow coming from the Millenium Eye at the top. "And now I have one, I can summon a Virus monster without tribute! Nuclear Ringmaster!"

Green/black fire sprouted on her field and parted like a curtain to reveal the dessicate frame of her zombie fiend as he doffed his hat and bowed. "Battle! _Death_ _Whipcrack_ _!"_ (2500/0)

A whip of black fire arced out from the monster's hand, crashing down on the set monster and shattering it. Castiel chuckled and pointed at the fragments. "You destroyed Rookie Trainer and now I can summon a 'LV' monster from my deck! Devil Weed LV3!"

Vines sprouted from the bedrock in front of him, coiling and weaving together into a rough snake shape. A flower bloomed for the 'head', petals dark reds and purples giving it a coloration that suggested it was bleeding. "And let's not forget the power boost from my Seal." (1200-1700/900)

"You forgot Ringmaster's effect! He killed a monster in battle, so my Spellplague is destroyed and then a monster from my deck is summoned so long as its level doesn't exceed your monster's!" Serenity watched as Castiel held up three fingers and she snapped her fingers, Spellplague shattering. "Then I summon Mutate Chemist!"

The new monster lived up to her name- a labcoat stained with an ugly rainbow of dried and caked colors like a used artist's palette and her face was no better. Fish scales bled without a seam into papery, taunt skin that led to rocky, craggy texture that overshadowed an eye that had two pupils while the other shone with madness. (1200/1200)

"When I summon Mutate Chemist, I can add another Spellplague from my deck to my hand! And then I use the effect of the one in my graveyard to reactivate it!" The pillar of flesh reformed in front of her. "And then Mutate Chemist's other effect! Since I have a Spellplague, I can tribute it and another Virus monster to fusion summon!"

The chemist reached under her labcoat, producing a bunch of stoppered vials from a pouch on her waist. She smashed them on the ground and the chemicals reacted, dead necrotic flesh sprouting up fast to swallow up her and Ringmaster. The mass throbbed and pulsed, veins bulging on it as it swelled and then burst apart in a spray of blood.

Castiel held up a hand, letting a splash of it decorate the back of wrist instead of his face. He gazed at it with a hunger, biting at his lip with a fang. "Pity it's not real…"

"Need a cure for that addiction, Castiel? I've got one right here!" Serenity pointed at her monster - a tall, slender woman dressed in a blood-stained nurse's uniform. But her cap seemed to have melted down over her face, forming a visor while her right arm had tube-like veins that lead to the syringes that had replaced the fingers of her right hand. "Virus Traumedy Nurse!" (2200/2200)

Mutate Chemist reappeared on her field in a flash of light and her deck spat out another card. "When this monster is summoned, I can revive another level three or lower Virus from my graveyard! So now I've got my last Spellplague and your Devil Weed's got a case of death! Battle! _Trauma Injection!"_

The nurse charged across the field, stabbing the living weed with her syringe hand. Devil Weed thrashed and swell, its skin ripping and tearing as it overfilled on the nurse's chemicals, and the flower head curled in on itself and the monster blew apart into pixels. "Mutate Chemist attacks!"

Castiel swatted the hurled flash of chemicals out of the air, the thing shattering against the wall of the Seal. Whatever was inside popped and hissed against the magic while an acrid smell filled the air. "Another downside to using the Seal, some things just become a little _too_ real…" (CLP: 8000-7500-6300)

"The only real thing you need to worry about is how I will beat you! I activate my two remaining Spellplagues!" The twin pillars of mutated flesh appeared in front of her. "Then I set two cards face-down and use my Spellplague's other ability since I have two or more -I add another Virus monster from my deck to my hand! Your move, Ryan!"

"That's not my name anymore, Serenity." Castiel drew for his turn. "You killed Ryan, remember?"

"I don't care if you're Ryan reborn, Ryan's ghost or the afterbirth of whatever hellhole they threw him!" Serenity growled, the darkness lining her body flaring in sympathy with her anger. "I will destroy you!"

Castiel rested a hand on his hip, chuckling. "You are just something else, all fierce and determined! Far cry from the shy little sister I met so long ago. Hard to believe you two are the same person. The difference between a child and adult is so startling, isn't it?"

He gave her a razor-thin smile. "Would you like to learn how far you've fallen, little sister?"

"What are you talking-" Serenity gaped as violet-pink mist spilled from the rim of the Seal, filling up the dome and shrouding the playing field. "What are you doing, Ryan!?"

"Well, I don't have a photo album on hand. So a literal walk down memory lane will suffice, Serenity." Castiel said as the mist hid him from view. Everything but the red glow in his eye and the Seal burning on his forehead….

TTTTTTT

 _"Mommy, my eyes hurt."_

 _"Hush, Serenity." The words from her mother aren't cruel, but they are curt and six-year-old Serenity can't help but flinch from them._

 _"But Mommy, the doctor said-"_

 _"I know what the doctor said!" This time, the flinch doesn't go unnoticed and her mother sighs, reaching to stroke her daughter's head. "Just keep your sunglasses on, okay? We'll find time to get the drops in your eyes after we meet your new daddy."_

 _"Oh. Is that why we're in America?"_

 _"Yes. And to find you a doctor. So your eyes can get better." Her mother gives her hand a reassuring squeeze and pulls her a little closer, standing on her tiptoes to peer over the heads of the crowd that filled the airport terminal. "He said they were waiting for us… ah! There are they are!"_

 _Serenity's little fingers tightened around the handle of her pink suitcase as her mother pulls her along so hard she about tripped over her own feet. Mommy was always quick and 'profeshunal'- it was hard to keep up sometimes. Even harder now that her stupid sunglasses were so big and making everything so dark. She bumped into someone, suitcase twisting off its wheels and she flinched again as the woman muttered something at her in English and gave her a dirty look._

 _The same look her old daddy would give her. "Mommy-"_

 _"Almost there, Serenity." Her mother said without looking over her shoulder. "Just bear with it, okay?"_

 _Just bear with it. That was Mommy's favorite set of words. They meant you were quiet and didn't cry when bad things happen or you get hurt. You kept going until the bad thing stopped. And smiled. Smiled until it hurt._

 _Joey never bore with it. He always got angry and yelled. At Mommy. At her old daddy. Even at her. Serenity fidgeted, her tummy knotting._

 _Why they had to leave him behind. He and Mommy couldn't bear each other._

 _"-and this is Serenity." Mommy was talking to a man. He was a strange man - he was tall and broad-shouldered and his hair was in a ponytail like a girl's. But he had a nice smile, and he didn't have a beard. Mommy was smiling and Serenity wondered if this new daddy was going be nicer than her other daddy. "Say hello, dear."_

 _"Um… hello." Serenity pulled her hand free of her mother's and bowed._

 _"Well, aren't you polite!" The man sounded surprised, and he bowed back before catching her eye and smiling again. "Am I doing it right?"_

 _"Yeah." Serenity couldn't help but smile back. He sounded nice._

 _"Ryan, Ryan come here and say hello!" The man straightened and reached behind himself, pulling out a boy about her age like it was magic. The boy wasn't happy to be magic, though, he was grumpy. His arms folded, and he was staring at the floor. "Come on now, son, it's not that bad…"_

 _Ryan didn't seem to think so. He lifted his head to look at Serenity, then went back to the floor when he caught her looking back._

 _"Oh dear, poor boy must be shy." Mommy said._

 _"No, he had to get braces, and he thinks they make him look stupid." The man sighed and ruffled his son's hair. "I keep telling him they make him look ferocious, but he doesn't believe me."_

 _"Even at that age, they think we don't know what's cool or anything." Mommy said with sympathy but Serenity let the rest of the conversation drift away._

 _"You have braces?" Serenity waited until Ryan had lifted his head again. "They help make your smile pretty, right?"_

 _"No. They're stupid. And they hurt." He was eyeing her again, mixed with envy. "Not like your glasses! Those are awesome! Can I try them?"_

 _"No." Serenity took a half-step back as he reached for them. "I need them. The doctor says they keep my eyes safe."_

 _"Oh."_

 _It amazed that he could look so disappointed. Serenity squirmed again. Not sure what to do. This was a bad thing. She didn't like this not knowing. But she had to bear with it. Serenity stuck a smile on her face._

 _Ryan frowned at her. "What are you doing?"_

 _"Smiling."_

 _"Why?"_

 _"'cause I can."_

 _"That's stupid."_

 _"You say that because you can't smile." Serenity's smile was more genuine now when his eyes narrowed as he huffed. He was just like Joey. He gave her what she wanted, too._

 _"I can, too!"_

 _"No you can't."_

 _"Yes, I can!" Ryan gave her an awkward smile, then remembered he had braces and his face fell._

 _"I like it." Serenity giggled. "They make you look like a vampire!"_

 _"Really?" He looked curious now, and he smiled again, forcing it more._

 _"Yeah! It's cool! I wish I had braces!"_

 _"Do you to trade? You can have my braces if I get your glasses."_

 _"Ryan, that's not how braces work. You can't give them away - you need them."_

 _"And you need your glasses, Serenity."_

 _Serenity frowned. She hated that. Adults always listened. But she remembered something and dug into her suitcase. After a minute, she pulled out a second pair of sunglasses and handed them to Ryan. "here!"_

 _He took them with hesitation, glancing up at his father._

 _"You borrow them. We'll get your own pair later, okay, sport?" He chuckled at Ryan's big grin and ruffled his hair again. "That's what I like to see!"_

 _"Yeah!" Ryan put on the sunglasses eagerly._

 _"That's a nice thing you did, Serenity." Mommy was smiling, too. "It's nice to share."_

 _"Thank you, Mommy."_

 _"I'm the coolest vampire ever!" Ryan was smiling at her again, big and wide. "Thank you!"_

 _"You're welcome." Serenity smiled back and kept it there as Ryan's stayed, too and she was glad that they were both wearing sunglasses though she didn't know why._

 _It was just something she'd have to bear with._

TTTTTTT

"Did you know I kept those sunglasses? I still have them, in fact. Somewhere in my luggage." Castiel's voice snapped Serenity back to reality. His words held a touch of wistful regretfulness. "We never got me my pair. Dad had a lot of trouble finding money to four people instead of two in those early days."

Serenity's head swam, but she reached into the cool darkness of her power and it settled as the world came back into focus. "What… what was the point of that?"

"You sparked some memories, is all. And I wanted to share. Our first meeting was so innocent and yet it was the first step on the path that would change our lives forever." Castiel said, sweeping an arm out to encompass her. "And would you look at you! A doctor who survived hells of all kinds, a Pro Duelist with a stellar record and tapping into that dark magic like a champ! Way to go, Serenity!"

Serenity wasn't sure what was more aggravating - the fact Castiel was talking or the fact he sounded sincere. "Enough with your mind games, Ryan! You may have gotten me once, but never again! I'm not that little girl you can manipulate anymore!"

"I pay you one compliment and you fly off the handle. As a doctor, I'd have thought you were used to this kind of thing. But then again, I suppose things are extreme. What with the duel for our souls happening, the vampirism and the implied cruelties that I apparently inflicted upon you all those years ago that we keep dancing around." He smirked. "But let's not forget who wanted to be just like her big brother. And was _so_ good at learning my lessons."

"I'm not like you! I'll never be like you!" The aura soothed Serenity as it flared again and she let herself sink a little further into the power.

"Mmm, I don't think it's true at all. Aren't you the one handing out death threats, trying to kill the same man _twice_?" He wiped away a false tear under his Orichalcos eye. "I couldn't be more proud…"

He was smirking as Serenity started, the dark aura vanishing in an eyeblink. "Ooops, I touched a nerve. Sorry, I'll get back to the game. I banish my Rookie Trainer from my graveyard to special summon my Devil Weed LV3 back from the big mulch pile in the dirt."

The weed regrew out in front of him and he slid another card into his disk. "Then, to my back row of monsters that my Seal provides for me, I'll summon my Ace Trainer!" His new monster was a rough-looking teen in a blue jacket and pants. A ballcap with a Pokeball on the front sat down low, the bill shrouding his face from view. (1000-1500/2220)

"Like any good trainer, he knows how to bring out the best in his monsters and helps me do so by adding one 'Level' card from my deck to my hand." He held up a spell card as it slid free from his deck. "Like Level Up! Which I now activate!"

"Sorry, but your Weed stays just that! Reverse card open!" Serenity's card flipped up to reveal a trap, it's picture showing Mutate Chemist laughing as a Spellplague grew around a Polymerization card. "Mana Virus! Since I control a Spellplague card, your card's effect changes! Now it becomes a continuous spell with the name Spellplague!"

Castiel scowled as flesh grew out of his spell card, swallowing most of it up and leaving it trapped against the floor.

Serenity watched his expression with a smirk. "Sorry, but I know all about LV monsters and their tricks. That old move was predictable!"

"It's a good bluff, then." Castiel grabbed another card from his hand. "You're the one whose moves are out of date, Serenity! I activate Awakened Evolution!"

The card appeared in front of him, its picture showing Armed Dragon LV3 glowing and the phantasmal form of Armed Dragon LV10 superimposed around it. "This card works just like Level Up, so now my Devil Weed evolves into LV5!"

The weed grew and thicken, root-like tendrils sprouting from the base as it reached up to Castiel's height. A second mottled flower sprouted as well and the entire thing gave a low-key hiss. (2200-2700/1200)

"But why stop there? Can't have a real garden with only one plant, so my Level Copy spell summons out a second Devil Weed LV5 from my deck!" More coiling vines and lashing roots and blooming dark flowers until there was a second weed alongside the first. (2700)

"I've dealt with nastier-looking dandelions than those things." Serenity regarded both plants with disdain.

"Allow me to revise that opinion! My first Devil Weed attacks Mutate Chemist! _Weed Killer!_ " The plant reared up, barbed roots erupting from the center mass in a flurry. "And when Devil Weed battles, it reduces the attack of the opponent's monster by eight hundred!" (1200-400)

"Activate trap! Sakeretsu Armor!" Serenity's card flipped up, spitting out a spiked suit of armor that landed in front of chemist and crossed its arms in front of its face. "Your attacking monster is destroyed!"

"Nope!" Castiel laughed at the surprised look on her face as the barbed roots punched through the armor like it was nothing and snared Mutate Chemist. The monster struggled, but there was a sickening snap as the roots snapped her neck and she blew apart into pixels. "Awakened Evolution prevents you from targeting or destroying the monster I summoned with its effect! And now that you're out of trap cards! _Weed Killer!_ "

Traumedy Nurse let out a gurgling noise as the roots perforated her torso and face without even slowing down. Serenity screamed as they cracked over her, throwing her back against the Seal wall like she weighed nothing. (2200-1400) (SLP: 8000-5700-4000)

Castiel watched as she got back to her feet, her real leg folding up underneath her as she tried to walk and she struggled to catch herself before she crashed into the ground. "I can hear how hard your breathing from over here, even without my vampire senses. A little love tap like that has dropped the great Doctor Death to her knees? You have not aged well, little sister…"

"And you talk too much, vampire!" Darkness burned to life around her and Serenity rose with unnatural grace, her mouth a freezing scowl. "By destroying Traumedy Nurse, you've activated its other ability! I summon Virus Death Clown from my deck!" The mutated clown appeared, crouching on his card and sticking a split tongue out at Castiel. (500/500)

"Hmmph. To think I was afraid of clowns. You weren't though. You laughed at them and I could never understand how you found those painted on faces and big red smiles so funny." Castiel closed his good eye. "Only later would I realize that the 'fear' wasn't fear at all. It was disgust and hatred for that over-exaggerated example of ' _humanity'_ and the sensation that I was one of them. Just like you laughed to hide your fear that you _weren't_ like them - that there was a part of you that broke a long time ago.

"Silence!" Black light arced from Serenity's hand, slamming into Castiel's face and snapping his head back. "This isn't a Darkness Game, so no one will care if I give into the temptation to forgo this farce of a game, Castiel and make you suffer!"

"You the thing is - I'm not bound by that either." He straightened his head, smirking. "The only reason I'm dueling you be so I can take your soul. If it weren't for that…" He tapped side of his neck where his pulse would be. "Well, I think you'd enjoy being a vampire."

"You mean becoming an broken-down addict who gnaws on his own flesh and drinks his own blood to satiate a hunger that never ends? Who is beholden to a piece of glowing, shiny rock?" Serenity offered him a cold sneer. "You're a dog leashed to the Orichalcos, Castiel, starving and rabid. And I will put you out of my misery."

"Such a cold tone to your brother, Serenity. That dark magic you have… it's almost like you're a different person. And I thought my name was Ryan?" The vampire laughed as the dark aura dropped again and Serenity's cold expression melted a flinch of fear. "Whoops, there I go again. I'll stop for now, promise. Just let me set this one card face-down, move to my End Phase… and oh yes, evolve my two Devil Weeds!"

The plants grew again, now as thick as trees and sporting three 'heads'. The blooms were the size of dinner plates, thorns were sprouting everywhere and something poisonous-looking was dripping from them. (2700-3200x2)

"End of turn."

"Draw!" Serenity yanked the card from her deck. "I use the effect of the Spellplague in my graveyard to activate it!" A third pillar rose between the two she already had.

Her body trembled, head throbbing as the light from the Orichalcos ate away her through the protective lenses of her mask. _This is bad… he took half of my life points last turn and this hurts so much worse than the_ _Darkness_ _Game back on Satellite. And I'm missing blood, too._ Her torso burned with an ache and it wouldn't have been surprising if that direct attack hadn't cracked a rib. It was lucky that it hadn't broken them.

 _I can_ _beat him…_ _I know I can. Even if he's backed by the power of the Orichalcos, I've got magic of my own._ But it was that magic. It was a problem. She could feel it. It wasn't calling or tempting her, but it was just _there_. Present, accessible with nary a thought and it took away her pain, made her feel good. Like the world's best chocolate chip cookie in a jar that never ran out.

Lyrius had warned her, hadn't he? That the power of magic was a whole different anima. She was could see why. _I need it to win this duel, to survive, but there's so much of it and no matter how much I drink from it, I will never be full. I know I won't…_

Pain throbbed in her heart and she gasped, the darkness filling her and soothing the aching organ in the space of a breath. Her eyes went wide. _Without even thinking, I… I.._

"Ohh, are you having an existential crisis?" Castiel called from across the field. "Come now, Serenity, I know you're not so frail…"

"Silence!" The command she barked came from a voice that wasn't hers - cold and ruthless, but there was no way it wasn't hers. As was the surge of anger that preceded it.

"You think a little dark magic is worth losing your head over right now? You're dueling for your life!" Castiel smiled. "This isn't a hard choice. You do what you have to do to survive. To do what is necessary. And to once again embrace the part of you that will enjoy killing me…"

The darkness rippled within her, his words stirring up a part of her heart that was slumbering. Doctor Death's mask was cool against her burning skin, a comforting weight. The magic rose in response, cradling her and she so wanted into its embrace. To take all this pain and anger and lash out at the vampire until he was nothing but a smear on the wall of his Seal.

But she ignored it all. "I use the effect of my Spellplagues to add Virus Fright Cannoneer to my hand and then I'll summon him without tribute!"

Her monster was not even at all humanoid like the rest- it may have been once, but that was long past. Two humans spliced on all fours side-by-side, the bone having sprouted like a giant ribcage out their back, the spine acting as a bracing rail for the mutated flesh howitzer growing in the 'cage'- something at the base pulsed like a giant heart. (2400/0)

"Then I activate its third effect!" All three of her Spellplagues shattered, and the pulsing heart in the cannon glowed, a sickly glow spreading along the bones like veins. "By getting rid of all of my Spellplagues, then tributing Cannoneer, I can destroy all the cards on your field!"

"Sorry, but this show hasn't hit its climax just yet! Reveal Spellbinding Illusion!" The card lifted, Serenity's monster collapsing, and the cannon fired into the ground, the explosion rocking the ground. "This trap not only reduces your monster's attack by five hundred, its effect is negated!" (2400-1900)

Serenity stared with wide eyes at her broken monster and Castiel sighed. "I know your deck by heart, Serenity. And Fright Cannoneer is one of the most dangerous monsters you possess. It's the only response your deck has to dealing with monsters who overwhelm you with raw power. Like you said earlier that move was coming a mile away!"

"I.. I reactivate two of my destroyed Spellplagues!" The pillars reformed. "Then I set two cards face-down and end my turn!"

"I draw." Castiel did so, but didn't bother to look at it as his warped gaze remained on Serenity. "That was such a clumsy move from you. And I'm not talking about the duel, I'm talking about shying away from the magic that's letting you fight me right now. It isn't like you at all…"

More mist flooded the Seal again and Serenity braced herself. "That's enough of this, Ryan!"

"Heh. I'm trying to help my little sister remember who she is., she didn't shy away from such darkness like a coward so many years ago…"

TTTTTT

 _It was darkday time._

 _That was what Serenity called it- the periods when her eyes stopped working, and she in the total darkness despite the warmth of the sun still shining down on her. Times when it she had to stay inside and curl on the couch unless Mommy or Dad was with her because she couldn't navigate at all without her sight and they couldn't afford a seeing-eye dog._

 _The doctors told her eyes were failing because her sickness was 'degenerative' and 'synapses were getting crossed' because her brain was getting confused by itself and stopped making her eyes work until it realized the mistake it was making. And when her brain figured it out, she still had to sit in the dark for hours and wear sunglasses because sometimes her brain didn't turn her eyes all the way back on._

 _So now she was sitting in the living him, fingers drifting over the Braille book in her lap. Mommy had gotten it after the first darkday at school, when she'd blinked going down the stairs, but no light back and she went headfirst into a crowd of her friends. She could read the Braille by sight now, but the bumps were so different under her fingers when she couldn't see - like they were something else than what she remembered._

 _"Hey, Serenity? You in here?"_

 _"What do you want, Ryan?" Serenity knew she sounded grumpy, but this Braille thing was stupid and she hated being bothered during darkday. Hearing other people was just another reminder that she couldn't see them. That they weren't broken like she was._

 _"Mom said you were blind again."_

 _"I'm not blind!" The words were immediate, angry and insistent. "Blind people can't see forever! I can't see right now!"_

 _A ten-year-old's logic. But it was the only logic that made darkdays bearable. That she'd get better._

 _That there wouldn't be the one time she didn't get better, and it'd be dark forever._

 _"Oh." The couch shifted as her stepbrother sat down next to her. "Whatchareadin'?"_

 _"A book."_

 _"I know that, stupid. What's it about?"_

 _"Why don't you read it?"_

 _"I can't read those bumps. They're like mom's backne."_

 _"There are words under the Braille, Ryan! Even I can see that right now!"_

 _"Heh. Right." He leaned in, curious. "See Jane run… See Spot run… this is for little kids!"_

 _"I got it off your bookshelf, stupid!" Serenity huffed and winced as he punched her shoulder._

 _"Don't call me stupid!"_

 _"Well, you are!" Serenity closed the book and swung in his general direction with it, grinning as she connected and her brother yelped. "Serves you right, braceface!"_

 _"I don't have braces anymore, blind head!"_

 _Serenity paused. "….that was stupid."_

 _"Shuddup!" She could just picture the embarrassed red face on her brother. "I'm not supposed to be mean to you, so insulting you is hard!"_

 _"Whatever." She sat back down, opening the book. "Lemme alone. I'm trying to read."_

 _"Okay." He seated himself next to her. "Tell me how to read the bumps."_

 _"Why?"_

 _"'Cause I want to read what you read. Teachers always say you read good."_

 _"It's 'read well' and fine." Serenity moved her fingers to the top of the page, taking his hand and plopping a finger next to hers. "You touching it?"_

 _"Yeah."_

 _"That's how Braille makes letters. How many bumps there are. And how they're set up. You get words by putting them together. S-e-e." She recited, guiding his finger over the bumps one at a time. "That spells 'see'."_

 _"No, it doesn't."_

 _"Yes it does, Ryan!"_

 _"Not with bumps, Serenity. Our fingers are on 'Spot'."_

 _Serenity paused, then growled and hurled the book away as hard she could. She heard it thump hard against the wall. "Dammit!"_

 _"Geezus, Serenity! You're gonna dent the wall! And you're not supposed to curse!"_

 _"Shut up, Ryan! Go away!" She gave him a shove to drive her order home. "Go on, go!"_

 _"All right, all right, don't push! God!" He slid off the couch, and she heard him stomp away. Gone to go tell Mommy or Dad what she'd done._

 _Except Mommy was taking a nap and Dad was working. Hot, fresh tears burned Serenity's eyes. She'd just chased away the only person in the house who would talk to her. She whimpered._

 _The dark made everything worse - she was so messy and wet as she cried and her nose was running and she did not understand where the kleenex were so she settled for using her sleeve even though she knew mommy would make that tutting noise at her when she found the shirt in the wash._

 _She wasn't sure how she sat in the dark alone, but her sniffles had become weak snorts and more sleeve-wiping when she heard footsteps scamper over the floor. "What, Ryan?"_

 _"I got something for you!" He sounded excited, but she could hear his enthusiasm smack against a wall as he caught sight of her. "Are you okay?"_

 _"' 'mfine!" She insisted, but it sounded more hurt and angry than true. "What bring me?"_

 _"Here." He pushed something at her and she took it_

 _It was cool and squishy, like rubber. She squeezed it and the thing bulged around the gaps in her finger. "What did you give me, one of the super balls?"_

 _"I heard that if you can't see, all your other senses become like superpowered! You can tell what things are by touching them!" He was already pushing another thing into her hand. "Try this!"_

 _It was something else squishy, but it didn't have as much give as the ball had. But it was more malleable, and she squeezed hard, and molded to her fingers. "… is it Play-Doh?"_

 _"Yeah. But those were easy." He took the Play-Doh from her and pushed something else into her palm. "You're never guess what this is!"_

 _Another squishy, but it was like a liquid even though she wasn't getting wet. And it had weight- she bounced it from hand to hand and wobbled and wibbled. And squeezing it met with resistance, like it was about to burst. "Ummm…"_

 _"I told you!"_

 _"No, I'll get it!" She huffed and fiddled with the object some more. Then grinned as it hit her. "It's a bath bomb!"_

 _"Awww…" He sounded disappointed, but pushing something else into her hand. "How about this?"_

 _This one was slimy and cold and weird. Squishy without being squishy. "Ewwww! Ryan, did you give me the kitchen sponge?"_

 _"No!" He sounded proud of himself. "I found a dead frog out back and that's one of its guts!"_

 _Serenity froze. "You did not!"_

 _"I did too!"_

 _"This isn't a frog gut!" She ran her fingers over the thing. "It's too big! Frogs are tiny!"_

 _"Oh….drat." He was pouting again. "Fine, it's one of the ice packs for when we get hurt. But I did find a frog!"_

 _"When I see again, will you take me to see it?" Serenity was curious despite herself. She'd seen dead things before, but the little game had made her was different now that she could not see. What if frog guts felt like that?"_

 _"Yeah!" Ryan couldn't contain his excitement again. "I got something else, though! One more thing!"_

 _"What?" She held out her palm in expectation and yelped as she felt something alive land on it._

 _"A cricket!"_

 _"Ryan!" Serenity clamped her hands together before the cricket could jump free. "Mommy's gonna be so mad at you! It's gonna get loose!"_

 _"No it won't, you've got it! I bet you could catch it without even trying not that you can't see!"_

 _"It's not like that- Ryan!" She barked as he pried her hands apart and the cricket jumped away. "Look what you did!"_

 _"It's not loose in the house, Serenity, it's right there on the couch."_

 _"Right where? I can't see, stupid!"_

 _"Right there! I'm pointing right at it!"_

 _"I can't see anything, idiot!" Serenity couldfeel her temper rising again. Ryan was such a stupid brother - he could point at the cricket all he wanted. HE couldsee it, HE could watch where it went and she couldn't. The stupid cricket could see better than she could! It was a bug, even!_

 _There was a chirp._

 _"Whoa, it's making noise!"_

 _"Ryan, shut up!" Serenity listened again for the chirp. It was on the couch, next to her. She scooted one hand across the cushion towards it, waiting._

 _Another chirp._

 _Her hand darted out, she felt the cricket jump and brush her fingers, but she was leaning and grabbing with the other hand -_

 _"Holy cow, Serenity! You caught it mid-air! That's so cool!"_

 _"Yeah." The cricket was bouncing around her cupped together hands again, trying to find a way out. Lost in the dark._

 _Just like she was._

 _It almost tickled, the manic brushing of its legs and wings and antennae against her skin._

 _It was scared. Trying to find a way out. And it could. If she opened her hands, it would run for the light and escape again. It'd be free._

 _It could see._

 _That wasn't fair._

 _Not fair at all._

 _Serenity crushed her hands together, the cricket's chirping cut short with a dynamic crunch. She could feel its guts smear on her fingers amidst the chips of its body. It had an unsettling amount of cold._

 _"Whoa!" Ryan didn't know whether to sound impressed or spooked._

 _"It was just a stupid bug." Serenity wiped her hands on her pants, not caring if it left a mess. If she couldn't see it, it wasn't there._

 _"Could you…" Ryan paused, thinking hard. "Could you catch something bigger than a bug without seeing?"_

 _"Like what?"_

 _"Like a frog. Or a squirrel."_

 _"Squirrels are too fast and can climb trees." Serenity pondered the question. "But I could get a frog, maybe."_

 _"Cool!" He grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the room. "There's more where I found the dead one! I want to see you catch and squish it like the bug!"_

 _Serenity imagined what that would feel like - the slippery skin of the frog, all wet and gross and those funny legs kicking like crazy. Maybe it'd croak if she squeezed the air out of it._

 _"Sure. Sounds like fun."_

TTTTTTT

The memory vanished back into a swirl of mist and Serenity breathed a little too hard from the experience. "What does that even prove? We were kids! We didn't know any better!"

"But we still killed those frogs for enjoyment." Castiel was blunt. "You had fun that day. And when we were twelve, we got a squirrel., we'd just finish dissecting frogs in a lab. To play doctor and see what their guts looked like with knifes and forks instead of scalpels." The vampire smiled at the memories. "You never shied from the dark things."

"So what? That being young, stupid and not having good parental supervision means I should have turned out like you, Ryan?" Serenity demanded.

"You think I didn't see your face as we cut into those animals, Serenity? That messing with their guts made you feel happy? That hunting down rabbits and breaking their necks wasn't satisfying because it was something you could even when you were blind?" Castiel countered. "It was one of our favorite things to do as brother and sister- our little secret from the rest of the world."

"It was wrong! An interest in dead things and wanting to see what's inside is one thing, but I should have never let you talk me into outright killing!"

"Oh, like you would have never gotten there yourself. I may have opened the door, Serenity, but you made the choice through it. All the way to the end - where you killed _me_."

"Shut up!" The dark aura was back, sleek tendrils lashing out to slash against the Seal but they did nothing. "You're the one who tried to kill me!"

"But I didn't. You got me first to save yourself." Castiel smirked as the aura crumbled again, Serenity's expression faltering under her mask. "You must fight me again to save your life this time, but… you're just a human, now. And I am much more than that. So much more!"

He pointed and Expert Trainer knelt and glowed "Allow me to demonstrate the gap between us! Expert Trainer does to defense mode and then I'll use its effect to add a copy of 'Level Down!' to my hand! And just like before, I'll activate it!"

He held up a monster card. "That spell lets me reveal LV monster in my hand that is level five or six and reduces its level by two, meaning I can now normal summon Gear Scythe LV6 without tribute!" Gears ground and chains rattled as parts flew in out of nowhere, stacking and piling upon each other to form a skeletal humanoid with a blank face. With four arms total, it wielded two jagged clockwork scythes as steam vented from its back. (2300-2800/1200)

"Go! Gear Scythe! Destroy her Death Clown! _Reaping_ _Doom!_ " The monster's hand squeezed levers on the handles of the scythes and they clattered and spun revealing they were chains. With another burst of steam it launched forwards and the death laugh of the Virus monster filled the air as he was sliced into four neat pieces. "And don't bother trying to summon another one from the deck! Gear Scythe negates the effects of any monster he destroys! Now my Devil Weed attacks your Cannoneer and weakens it further! _Weed Killer!"_

Her Virus monster didn't even have time to struggle as the thorny roots pierced its body and ripped it apart right down the middle. But there was a merciful god watching, and it shattered into pixels before it could go any further. (1900-1100) (SLP: 1900)

Serenity couldn't bite back her scream as the backlash hit her and she went slamming into the Seal again. But this time she remained upright and braced herself against it as the remaining Devil Weed shot off a flurry of roots at her. "Reverse card open!"

 _"Do-_ _ba_ _-_ _ba_ _-_ _ba_ _ba_ _-_ _ba_ _-_ _ba_ _ba_ _-_ _ba_ _!"_ (0/0x4)

Castiel stared, eye widening in surprise as her set card lifted and spat out four multi-colored puffballs. "Oh for the love- those some goddamn annoying Scapegoat! Devil Weed!"

The goats all let out a terrified shriek as the roots shredded the red one into mist, their eyes bugging in a comical fashion before their wool poofed out. They all blundered into each other in a panic, then -

" _Do-ba-ba-ba ba-ba-ba ba- ba!"_

Serenity smirked at Castiel's sudden developing eye-twitch. "What's the matter, Ryan? Goat got your tongue?"

"Buying yourself one turn won't turn the game around, little sister. Your little barbershop quartet is as outdated as the rest of your strategies! I end my turn!"

"Draw!" Serenity did so and pointed at her field. "Let me show you a move my _real_ brother inspired! I activate Double Magical Arm Bind! I sacrifice two Scapegoats and then I get control your Devil Weeds!" The two goats vanished and the Devil Weeds drifted over in front of Serenity.

"But now they lose the attack power bonus from my Seal." Castiel grit his fangs. (3200-2700)

"I'm not attacking with them because you'll get them back at the end of the turn, so how about I try out something new if my old strategies aren't work!" She slapped a card onto her disk. "I summon Double Resonator in attack mode!" (0/0)

Compared to the Devil Weeds, her new monster was tiny. Triangle bodied, it had two wields and wielded a tuning fork in one hand with a conductor's baton in the other. "And since this guy is summoned, I can make my remaining Scapegoat a tuner!"

The orange glowed and its fur changed, peeled back by a rocker headband while held a tiny mic in its hoof. It began to headbang. _"Do-do-_ _ba_ _-_ _ba_ _-_ _babababa_ _ba_ _ba_ _baaa_ _!"_

"I know these things should come with chants, but I'm not in the mood to play nice, brother! So I tune your level seven Devil Weed with my Double Resonator and then the second with my Scapegoat to synchro summon two level eight monsters!"

The monsters shattered apart into the synchro rings and stars, blurring together as her two new monsters took shape. The first comprised scrap metal welded, tied or hoped together with a little prayer. Hulking in its size and mass, it roared as fierce any real dragon and spread oil-soaked wings. "Scrap Dragon!" (2800/2000)

The other monster was opposite its clunky companion- sleek scales, smooth curves that lead to hard angular edges and darkness wreathing its whole beings save for the baleful eyes on its mouth and chest. "Dark End Dragon!" (2600/2100)

"Tch… leave it to you to find two dragons that could compensate for your Virus monster's lack of raw strength." Castiel eyed the new monsters with frustration. "How troublesome…"

"Troublesome is such a weak word, Ryan, I prefer downright vicious! Scrap Dragon can destroy a card on my field to do the same to yours! And why don't I destroy the card that I can always bring back- Spellplague!" The pillar of flesh shattered, and a turret lifted from Scrap Dragon's back, machine-gunning screws and bolts at the Gear Scythe. They perforated the LV monster like a pincushion and blew apart.

"Dark End Dragon can lower his own stats by five hundred to send a monster you have to the graveyard, so your Expert Trainer is history!" The dragon glowed with a dark miasma that spread to cover the trainer. He gasped in fear, his last sight being the grinning face on Dark End Dragon's chest… and how it opened to devour him whole. (2600/2100-2100/1600)

"Double direct attack!" Serenity pointed at Castiel. " _Flames of the End!_ _Scrap_ _Fire_ _!"_

The two dragons lumbered forwards, lifting their necks as one and then arcing them, oil and grease splattering over the vampire from Scrap Dragon. Then a single spark from the junk monster ignited it while Dark End Dragon breathed out a wave of dark fire that coiled around him like it was alive and Castiel howled as he burned twice over. (CLP: 1400)

"Then I activate Sebek's Blessings from my hand, meaning I gain life points equal to the damage Scrap Dragon inflicted!" Sparkles surrounded her and flowed into her Duel Disk. To her disappointment, the ache in her body didn't lessen even as her life points rose out of the danger zone. _Guess beggars can't be choosers…_ (SLP: 4700)

She watched Castiel sweep the flames away from him with a dramatic gesture, lines of smoke trailing from his body. But to her surprise, there was only bemusement on his face. Her lips curled in a frustrated scowl. "You never could accept when you were losing, Ryan."

"Lose? To the rusted skills of a mere human? Not even close." The vampire sneered. "You cannot close the gap between us, Serenity."

"I did it once before!"

"Yes, that's right. You did kill the human that I once was. But with death, Ryan cast that humanity aside and Castiel was born…" He smiled, baring his fangs as the Orichalcos embedded in his face began shone with an angry light. "You don't have a chance in hell to beat a vampire. Not without that magic."

Serenity's hand rose to the necklace. "You seem pretty determined make me use the dark magic that keeps kicking your ass."

"Of course I would be. The stronger a soul, the more it is worth to the Orichalcos. Joey's was worth hundreds, and yours, soaked in that magic, could be worth even more to me." He smiled, showing a single fang. "And it would please me to see my little sister's true self once again."

"What you want exists in nothing but your twisted head!"

"Your head is the one that twisted with that denial of what you truly are, Serenity! But if you won't accept it, I'll force you embrace it! During your End Phase, I activate Level Modulation! You draw two cards, but I get my Gear Scythe LV 6 back!" The four-armed mechanical man reappeared, clanging its scythes together. "Then I draw for my turn!"

He tugged the card free and flipped it around. "Level Up turns Gear Scythe LV6 into LV8!" The machine began to bulk up, steam venting as the limbs and torso expanding as a third set of arms extended from the waist and produced two more scythes. (3000-3500)

"Then I summoned Masked Knight LV3!" The little knight was all burnished gold and silver, looking more like a child's costume than a true warrior. But the Seal burned to life on its helmet crest and the eyes darkened to red. (1500-2000/800)

Castiel slammed a spell card into his disk, a blue sword lancing out of the nothingness and piercing Dark End Dragon. It roared, but was unable to do anything as the weapon pinned it to the ground. "Zero Blade not only weakens your monster by one thousand points, but Gear Scythe can battle twice this round!"

"What!" Serenity barely had time to brace herself as the as the machine shot forwards, all four scythes rattling into a grinding buzz. Metal sang and flesh rent as the weapons carved into her monsters. Pieces flew in all directions and the backlash hit, hurling her into the Seal yet again. The magic wall chimed with the force she hit with. (SLP: 4700-4000-1600)

"Masked Knight LV3 attacks directly! This duel is finished!"

"Not...yet!" Serenity shoved a card into her graveyard. "Kuriboh!" Dozens of little brown puffballs appeared in front of her, the knight's sword cleaving through a swath with a single swing. But then they all exploded in sequence and the knight went sailing backwards.

Castiel twitched his head as the knight's sword sailed past his head, watching as the explosions cleared to reveal Serenity slumped back against the Seal. "More famous Wheeler luck...but that looks like the last of it. Even if you had the means to fight back, you frail human body hasn't the strength!"

Serenity couldn't find the energy to give a verbal response, but glared as hard as she could even as she felt part of Doctor Death's mask crack. With a weak splitting noise, it crumbled off her face like cheap glass.

Castiel regarded his sister with disappointment - it was even visible in his Orichalcos eye. "So weak and helpless. Looks like the last forty years were too much for you. It took more than your limbs. It sapped your strength and wilted your spirit away."

His hand rose unconsciously to touch the throbbing teal veins in his face. "I suppose I'm in no position to cast stones. I surpassed death itself, but I've fallen, too. My mind polluted with the Orichalcos, my body corrupted by this stupid teal light and the pain of my twin hungers leave me nothing but a wild, rampaging beast looking for its next meal."

He flexed his free hand a bit. "Drinking your blood helped me, you know. The magic in it is a balm that soothes my savage heart. And I appreciate that fact - and our reunion - more than you will ever know or believe, little sister. Thank you."

A glob of spit and blood splashed against his cheek. He almost didn't seem to notice or the defiant, angry glare Serenity was giving. But he grinned, the teal madness of the Orichalcos surging around him. "It's nice to see some Wheeler tenacity burns in you alongside your famous luck- but that fire alone is not going to save you!"

"It'll burn you to ashes, Ryan!" Serenity got to her feet, only to fall as her legs refused to hold up her weight. "Even if you take my soul, my friends will stop you!"

"Oh yes, that frustrating persistent Shadowchaser Voltaire and that clever necromancer. You're not Aware, so I have been wondering just how you came across such magical companions. So the last thing you do before I take your soul is satiate my curiosity." The black-purple fog began to fill the Seal yet again. "Been a while since I used the Orichalcos to look into someone else's memory instead of share my own…."

TTTTTTT

 _The bar is burning._

 _The flames blaze high into the night sky._

 _Lyrius strides out of the inferno, shedding embers and darkness casually. Burns score his flesh, but he doesn't seem to notice. "You cannot kill me, Weevil."_

 _"Then I'll just try harder!" Weevil's angry snarl is is lost to his parasite monster's screech as it rears up. It lunges for Lyrius, circular mouth wide and fangs flashing._

 _Ember's sword is in Lyrius hand and he slashed it through the air, the weapon breaking as darkness arcs off the tip of the blade. "Mugetsu!"_

 _Weevil's monster isn't sliced in two- the attack dissolves away whatever it hits and with a squelching noise, the two pieces hit the ground. The creature is thrashing and twitching endlessly dying from the sheer amount of pain it is in._

 _Weevil is numb with shock. "But...but my power…"_

 _"Your power is nothing but a false shadow. Did I not tell you before, Weevil?" The cold anger in Lyrius' voice dwarfs the fury of the blaze behind him and every word is like a dagger. "Those who play at dark powers will be consumed by powers even darker than themselves."_

 _"B-Bastard!" The Millenium Star flashes, but Lyrius' hand knifes it away._

 _"You. Your false power. And your false pride." Lyrius seized Weevil's face, lifting him in the air like he weighed nothing. "I will shatter them all."_

 _"No...no…! Not like this!" Weevil screamed. "I'm going to be king!"_

 _"Long may you reign. In hell." Dark magic coils around Lyrius' arm._

 _The fire captures the terrified look of Weevil, the wide eyes, the pale face and the realization that he is going to die._

 _The fire frees Serenity's face from shadows, revealing the eager, malevolent smile._

 _A flicker and the scene shifted_

 _She is curled up on a chair next to an unconscious Lyrius in the aftermath, both of them still smelling of smoke and burnt wood. The room is dark._

 _She can feel goosebumps on her good arm. The slender, fingertip-light and death-like touch of his killing intent caressing her spine, her face, her hair. Whatever Lyrius is dreaming about to save his soul, he is fighting hard. He wants to kill so much it spills out of him._

 _And Serenity took comfort in that feeling._

 _Another flicker._

 _Resonae trotted up to her after breakfast, something dead in her mouth. (I do not like human food. Cook this for me.)_

 _"I just saw you start a fire. You can do it yourself." Serenity watched as Resonae huffed, stomping her forehoof. She can see the dead thing in the Nightmare's mouth is a rabbit, the lack of blood staining the white fur pink suggesting the unicorn had run it down and snapped its neck._

 _For a space less than a moment, Serenity wished she could have seen that happen._

 _Another flicker._

 _She's trapped against the wall, pinned by Lyrius as he battles the vampire that has stolen both the light and the sound from them._

 _He pressed back too hard, nearly crushing her and she can feel his body jerk with sudden pain and movement. The coppery scent of blood reaches her nostrils._

 _Droplets splattered on her cheek._

 _And she licked Lyrius' blood off her lips._

 _He tasted nice._

TTTTTTT

The mist scattered

Serenity was breathing hard again, her heartbeat roaring in her ears.

Castiel was smiling. Genuine, joyful, excited. "The phrase that comes to mind is 'in love with your carnage.'. I may have to thank that necromancer before I drink him dry…"

"What did you just say!?" Serenity's angry words give her the strength to lift her head.

"Being around that man has stirred your darker emotions. That man is awash in bloody violence and wicked strength and you enjoy it! You desire the power he has, to see him standing alone amidst a battlefield of corpses soaked in blood - and you there to lick his face clean like it was sweetest wine!" Castiel laughed. "That is the truth that you are trying to hide in your heart and you twist your mind like a hall of mirrors to reflect even the tiniest amount of light away from that dark corner!"

"What of it!?" Serenity cannot recall finding the strength to get to her feet, but she is stood anyway and felt the shadow magic ripple in eager agitation. "So I'm a macabre bitch; so's half the Internet!"

"But the Internet is not my little sister because they are not like me."

"Ryan, I will _never_ become like you!"

"Oh really? Only a few short steps separate the paths of our lives, Serenity! We both played our little games, remember? You wanted to it just as much as I did!"

"'Did', Ryan. Past tense - I'm not the hurt and angry girl I was!" Serenity snapped. "I became a doctor to help people! To save lives!"

"That's just one facet of the truth! I became a vampire to discard my soul and gain power against humanity, you became a doctor to save your own and gain power to save humanity! But at the end of the day, those two vastly different desires sprang from the same dark recesses that live in our two hearts!"

He pointed a damning finger at her, the teal light eager with truth in his eyes. "The wish for the power over life and death!"

"Shut up!" Serenity did not have to reach for the darkness - it rose to meet her, embrace her, swaddle her and give shape in aura and flame to her fearful fury.

"That's it- reach into that dark corner of your heart once more! Draw out the shadows within it and smother the weak light of your human heart!" Castiel coaxed her, baring his fangs. "Do my words make you angry? Do you despise me enough to kill me again? Or is all your anger directed back at you and the fact you hate the truth?"

" _Quiet!"_ Darkness bolted against the Seal's edges, snapping and crackling like lightning.

"All that I did, all that I will do is because of you, little sister! Without you, I would have never gained the courage to know the truth of who I am and what I wanted!"

"I'm nothing like you, Ryan! I'm not a monster!"

"I'm the monster you created!" Castiel held out his hand, and the Seal responded, the entire thing lighting up. Wherever the light touched, it ate away at the shadows shrouding Serenity. "And if you want a hope of stopping me, you'll cast aside your humanity and become one!"

The light seemed to harden, and he clenched his fist, Serenity buckling under the pressure as the darkness was crushed away. Castiel smiled in eagerness as pain flooded her face and she hugged herself. "What will you do now? You're just like the animals from our little games - helpless in your death throes!"

The dark magic in her heart roared, kicked into a wild storm against the intrusive light. But it wasn't enough. Serenity could feel the strength draining from her body, her heart screaming in pain as the Orichalcos peeled away the protective magic that had kept her body going during the duel. Trying call more to herself simply got it destroyed as fast as she could summon it.

Serenity stood on the raging pool of shadows, a center calm in the rapidly dying storm of power. Despite everything, the shadows were still and mirror smooth as she glanced down into the endless depths.

Doctor Death's blood-stained smile looked back at her.

Serenity knelt, cupped the shadow into her hands like water.

And drank deeply.

There was no explosion of dark power, no angry roar, no defiant cry, not even a scattering of the Orichalcos' light or dramatic proclamation.

In one second, the teal light was crushing Serenity.

In the next, it was just gone.

Castiel watched Serenity rise with supernatural grace, her form lined briefly by shadows. "Took you long enough. If you'd done that from the start, we could have actually dueled instead of talking so much!"

"There's no fun in bringing the curtain down after the opening act, Ryan." Serenity slid her hand over her face, the damaged portion of Doctor Death's mask repairing itself as she did so. Her hair darkened to bloody crimson, ethereal and youthful. "A climax is so much satisfying when you shed some blood, sweat and tears over it!"

"Save the eliminator talk for a duelist who is scared by such tripe." He folded his arms. "You're just running off of the rush that dark power is giving you. I'm still in control of this duel and there isn't a monster in your deck that can save you. Gear Scythe at level eight is immune to your monster's effects and if you keep me from attacking again, my Masked Knight's damage effect will just take you out!"

The electric blue of her lips must have been real because Castiel's comment sparked a cunning smirk. "But what if I summon a monster that isn't from _my_ deck?"

"What? Not from your deck?" He lifted his good eyebrow. "Your Virus deck doesn't have any real method to steal one of _my_ cards."

"I don't want one of _your_ cards, brother. What I want is a monster that will be born from the source of my necklace's power and that will shatter your weak source of light! I reactive the last Spellplague from my graveyard!" The third pillar of mutated flesh rose to join the other two. "Then I use their effects to add one more Virus monster from my deck to my hand."

She caught the card and held it up along with another monster and Polyermization. "Now I fusion summon!"

"You don't have anything that can beat me!" Castiel gasped as a light suddenly shot through one of the cavern's entrances like a bat out of hell. It passed through the barrier of the Seal like it wasn't there and settled in front of Serenity. "What the hell is that!?"

"One of the guardian dragons of Arcadia, but given a unique twist with my shadow power!" Serenity spread her arms as the sphere began to turn dark and black. _"When dark forces become the ashes of the defeated, the garden of vengeance_ _is sown_ _! Let the blood of the mighty slake your thirst and bloom in the glory of their deaths! Fusion Summon! Level 8! "_

The sphere swelled, shedding the bleak light on it to become a massive tree-like black rose. The petals bloomed delicately, purple and blue woven into them. The stem coiled and sprouted more of itself, becoming a dragon's body covered in thorns. The leaves stretched and unfurled into wings, veins of bright electric blue stark against the evergreen shade they had. At the center of the bloom was a dragon's head, angular and ruthless while black tines formed a razor-edged crown. " _Virus Fusion Dragon -_ _Malentha_ _!"_ (2000/2000)

Castiel stared at the dragon, taking a step back. He could feel the power radiating from it and the song of the Orichalcos in the back of his head sharpened. It both feared and hungered for that beast. "That dragon is too weak to overcome my monsters!"

"Don't be in such a hurry to get to the climax, Ryan - you'll live longer that way!" Serenity held up her hand, and the dragon roared melodically. "When this monster is summoned, all face-up spell and trap cards on the field have their effects negated and become Spellplagues!"

"But the only card I have face-up is the 'Level Up!' you turned into a Spellplague -" Castiel gaped as there was an ugly shuddering sound from around them. Mutated flesh began to sprout and spread at random points over the playing field - and up the walls of his field spell. "You can't negate the powers of the Orichalcos!"

"Really?" Serenity laughed mockingly as the flesh continued to spread, crawling higher and higher up the Seal's barrier. "Just like I couldn't summon a monster that wasn't from my deck?"

Castiel opened his mouth to respond, but a long, loud and piercing 'ting!' noise cut him off.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Serenity caught his eye and pointed a slender finger skywards, jabbing it up.

Castiel's gaze followed the gesture until he was looking at the very top of the barrier the Orichalcos created.

A single hairline crack, barely bigger than his index finger, was just visible in the light.

"Oh. _Shit_."

Almost as if the Orichalcos was insulted by his acceptance of its sudden weakness, the crack spread like a giant hand had struck it. The damage zig-zagged everywhere in the blink of an eye and with another blink, it shattered apart with a noise that felt like a thousand nails scraping on a thousand chalkboards.

But even through the noise, Serenity's smug voice was audible. "My dragon gains five hundred attack points for every Spellplague on both sides of the field and I count a total of five!" The mutated flesh began to sprout and bloom sick-looking flowers. They beaded off energy and Virus Fusion Dragon glowed as it started absorbing it all. "Attack his Masked Knight and wipe out his life points! _Dark Triumph!"_ (2000-4500)

The dragon's flower petals glow with runes and magic began to gather in its maw. Castiel watched the blue fire gather, the very air hissing as the flames burnt it. _That monster is real even without the Seal! If she hits me with that-!_ "I activate my trap card! Dimensional Prisoner! Your monster is banished!"

"Ah-ah-ah!" Serenity waggled a taunting finger as the trap lifted...and promptly sprouted mutated flesh and flowery growths. "Virus Fusion Dragon can turn one of your spells and traps into Spellplagues during either of your turns!"

Castiel didn't bother to respond, throwing up a teal barrier as the dragon's attack launched. It blew apart Masked Knight without slowing and plowed into the barrier. He grunted as it began to crack, the stones in his face starting to shine. The vampire growled as the veins in his face throbbed teal and then burst, his pinkish blood streaming from the wounds. Then he howled as the barrier finally shattered and the energy blast picked him up so it could smash him through the remains of the Reaping Tree and into the cave wall. (CLP: 0)

The vampire folded to the ground in a heap of broken crystal and shattered stone. Blood poured from his face and a whole score of new wounds. But he still managed to lift his head as Serenity's footsteps crunched their way towards him. "Looks like...I pushed a little _too_ hard…"

"You never knew when to stop pushing buttons, Ryan." Serenity's words were cool and cruel, like the whisper of a knife tip sliding over bare flesh. She regarded him, blue lips curling in disdain. "I should kill you."

"If you don't...I'll be back…" He rasped out of the threat/promise and managed a bloodstained smile. "Gotta put family first…"

Her boot smashed into his face, blood streaming from his nose now. "You are no family of mine, you sad twisted bastard!"

"Takes one to know one…." Castiel spat out a tooth, still smiling as she kicked him again. "Even now, you want to hit me...hurt me...make me scream….make me beg for my life."

"You'd deserve it!" Her hand grabbed his neck and hauled him to his feet, slamming him to the wall with impossible strength for a woman of her size. "After what you did to me! What you've done to others for the last fifty years!"

"The strong rule the weak." Castiel grunted out. "And humans are the weakest of all."

"But this human is stronger than you." She cooed and her grip on his neck tightened. "So where does that leave you, weakling?"

"You won't kill me…" His good eye narrowed in confidence. "For the greater good, a public service, it doesn't matter how you justified it to yourself….we'd both know you'd _really_ do it because you want to see me die. The only difference between you and me, Serenity, is I accept who I really am. You just live a lie!"

She regarded him for a long, quiet moment. "You're right. I am lying to myself, Ryan." Her hand slapped into place on his damaged cheek and a sultry, malevolent grin spread her lips. "Let's see what the real truth about me is together, mmm?"

Darkness spread from her grip like living oil, Castiel's eyes widening at the sensation. Then the ends of it flexed, wormed and drove itself into the pulsing Orichalcos veins of his flesh.

And he screamed.

TTTTTTT

The agonized yell was the last thing Lyrius needed to find his way. The blood spell had been destroyed by the spider and the glowing orb of light from his deck had out paced him, but he knew he was close. The sharpness of the yell confirmed it.

He barreled out of the passage, took in the shattered Reaping Tree that always already pulling in souls to regrow itself, the blood and damage from the fight and gawked slightly at the Virus Fusion Dragon slowly wisping away back into smoke.

Another cry and he was moving again, grabbing for her shoulder. "Serenity!"

His hand never got close - her shadow jumped up to block him and then swatted him aside so hard he went skidding backwards. "What are you doing!?"

"Embracing who I am." There was a surge of dark power and an ear-splitting scream from Castiel that was only drowned out by the sound of bone cracking. Then Serenity stepped away, and the vampire dropped to the ground, smoke pouring from his face.

Lyrius glanced between the prone vampire and Serenity, trying to take in the mask on her face, the crimson hair or the teasing smile quirking her lips. "What happened?"

"He drank my blood and tried to take my soul. I refused to let that happen." She stroked the teardrop ruby of the necklace with two fingers slowly. "I told you the necklace would be quite useful in defending myself."

She caught sight of him staring and her smile shifted, becoming more dark and promising. The doctor strutted over to him, sliding a pair of fingertips teasingly up his arms. "Do you like my look?"

"Yes, but-" Lyrius was cut off as she put a finger to his lips and leaned herself into him.

"Hug me." Serenity breathed in want, her eyes hungry even beneath her mask as she looked up at him. "Kiss me. Feel the strength in my body, the power in my lips…"

Her fingers - Lyrius wondered when they had been so slender or with dark black nails - cupped his face. "You woke this up inside me...you should…" Her tongue danced over her lips for a moment. " _Partake_...of it. Of me."

"Serenity, what has gotten into you?" He caught her hand, but got no further in questioning as the mood was shattered by a horrible retching sound.

They both glanced down and over to see Castiel propping himself up on one hand, his shoulders heaving as he vomited another wave of ugly teal lump and liquid onto the stone. The damaged half of his face was blackened and charred, his eye socket and holes for the Orichalcos empty and cracked.

Lyrius took a step back to avoid the mess spreading onto his shoes. "What is going on?"

"Oh, I just proved a point. He had some serious addiction problems to the Orichalcos, and I put him out of his misery." Serenity sounded somewhat more like normal as she watched Castiel albeit there was a beautiful disappointed pout on her face. She held up her hand, revealing three heavily cracked and scorched Orichalcos stones. "He's still a vampire, but now he's less empowered by an ancient evil and more garden-variety."

"You broke my addiction...I cannot hear the stone's song… Why...why…" Castiel paused to vomit more gunk up. "Why did you do that?"

"To remind myself why I _didn't_ end up like you, Ryan. I choose to help people because I know it is the right thing to do and I want to, not because I derive any pleasure in killing." Serenity smiled with a contented noise. "Even if your scream was a touch pleasing to me…"

"Is that right, little sister? You're good and I'm bad because of one choice?" Castiel flopped himself onto his back, good eye focusing on her. "Don't be so conceited. Our life paths run closer than you think and they'll cross again sooner than you think."

"You'll have a hard time doing that from a prison, vampire." Lyrius was curious about the exchange they had just had, but he wasn't going to bother satiating it now.

"Don't think I will… I mean, since I'm learning so much about you, Serenity, how about I share something with you?"

The next action felt like it was unfolding in slow motion. Castiel reached into his pocket and flicked a dollar coin-sized piece of jade into the air above. It spun end over end and it reached its apex, began to shine.

Lyrius grabbed Serenity and shielded her with his body.

"I didn't just by Orichalcos off of that magical gemstone dealer."

The jade exploded like a firecracker, a wave of concussive force throwing Lyrius off his feet. He hugged Serenity to his chest as they crashed into the remains of the Reaping Tree. Breaking crystal offered a discordant song as the last remnants of the blast rumbled away through the caves.

Lyrius quickly rolled off of Serenity, but the spot where Castiel had lain was empty. "He's gone…"

"Shoulda remembered...he always had some kind of back-up plan ready…" Serenity groaned and her metal arm whirred as she held it out. "Lyrius, my everything aches. Please help me stand."

He grabbed her arm, hauling her to her feet and relieved to see that she was back to her normal appearance. "Do you need medical attention?"

"No. Just some rest. The necklace warded off the brunt of everything." She glanced down at their conjoined hands and then slid hers free with reluctance. "And...I need some time to think when we get back to the surface."

"Castiel acted like he knew you, called you family. But I thought you only had the one brother…"

" _Later_ , Lyrius. It's why I need time to think." Serenity snapped and cradled her head in one hand, weighty exhaustion settling on her features. "This is all kind of hitting me right now and it's a huge amount to process...and using that magic means I'm already tired….let's get going..."

She was asleep before she took the first step and Lyrius darted into catch her bridal-style. He took a minute to study her sleeping face for anything that warranted concern, but nothing caught his eye.

Except for the necklace's glinting jewels. The necklace he had given her and whose power had transformed her. Something that it shouldn't have been capable of. She had harmed Castiel, even while healing him and then thrown herself at him. Like she had been dying of thirst and he had been water. Given him that hungry, wolf-like look of want.

Like Iris had.

 _I said the necklace would not make her another Shadow Queen...and yet, Serenity is…_

The necklace's jewels gave off an innocent glint, but Lyrius swore he heard all-too familiar laughter for a faint moment.

"Oh, I figured it was you making that ruckus." Voltaire came striding out one of the tunnels, trying to wipe something white and sticky off of his sword with his coat sleeve. "Why is it, Lyra, that whenever we get attacked by giant monsters, I always get my sword covered in things like spider guts?"

There wasn't an answer, and he lifted his head expectantly, but his eyes wide owlishly wide behind his glasses as he saw Lyrius cradling Serenity, the shattered remnants of the Reaping Tree and the rotten fruit everywhere, the gouges over the stone floor and more. "Okay, this one is _not_ my fault! I only fought the giant spider!"

He took a step forwards and winced as his boot squished. "Oh no…" A glance down showed that he had stepped in what looked teal, chunky vomit that was glowing with a faint light.

He looked back up at Lyrius.

The other man shrugged. "Mind your step."

TTTTTTT

"Fuck...fuck... _fuck!_ "

Castiel stumbled down a tunnel, leaning heavily against the stone and trying to ignore that when his head scraped against it, it rained ash flakes.

His strength left him as he reached a new cavern, pitching forwards and almost toppling headfirst into the pool of water that dominated most of it.

"Well, well, well. I hadn't expected to see you here, Castiel. To what do we owe the string of curses?"

The vampire got to his feet with care, squinting with his good at the sight of a lich sitting cross-legged on a picnic blanket just a few yards away. And seated with him a strange human with bug-like blue hair, beady eyes and munching down on what looked like a sandwich. "Fushioh?"

"At your service yet again, my dear vampire. I'm glad to see you escaped that mess at Gallowmere after all."

"Palethorne was an aberrant dreamer; hardly a figure to rally the vampire race behind. I got what I wanted from him, so there was no reason to stay any longer than I had to." Castiel staggered his way over to them, leaning heavily on a boulder. "How did you get to Duelist Kingdom?"

"I took a lovely walk across the bottom of the ocean from Satellite. We figured that this place would be a good way to get transportation to our next destination and my companion, despite his strange appearance, still needs to deal with the calls of nature. And hunger." The lich said, gesturing to the strange man scarfing down another sandwich. "Weevil, could you at least pause to say hello to our guest?"

Weevil grunted, eyeing Castiel up and down. "I'd rather save my breath for his funeral. That'll come quicker!"

"Vampires don't die as easily humans, little man. And certainly not as easily as roaches." Castiel matched eyes with Weevil, who just scowled and went back to his food. "Though you might make a fitting meal at the very least."

"Weevil's not quite human anymore, Castiel, so I think drinking the stuff he has for blood might give you indigestion. You'd have better luck trying to steal his soul." Fushioh's bones creaked as he leaned forwards to peer at the vampire with curiosity. "Though given the damage you've taken, you seem bereft of the Seal and accompanying stones. Is what you are running from?"

"I ran into my stepsister Serenity and she was with that stupid Shadowchaser, Voltaire, along with a necromancer. I gambled and lost…" The vampire touched his face, fingers scraping away a layer of ash to reveal pearly white bone underneath.

"What? Serenity and that Lyrius bastard are here!?" Weevil shot to his feet, a stinger ripping free of his wrist with a 'shink!' noise.

"You ran into them as well?"

Fushioh nodded. "They interrupted our plans on Satellite to gather a collection of souls and destroyed the Reaping Tree I was hoping experiment with. That is the other reason we are here- I was informed there was on this island."

"If it is a giant crystal tree that has dancing souls around it, it's nothing but pieces now. It was destroyed in my conflict with my sister. And the fruit it and souls it held were rotten, anyway. Even the Orichalcos could not absorb them."

"Mmm, more's the pity…"

"Hey!" Weevil's stinger nearly took off the two undead villain's noses with his wild gesturing. "Am I the only one who cares that the bastards who screwed us over last time are down here with us?"

"These tunnels are all over the island - a rat would have better luck finding cheese a maze." Castiel informed him. "What's the matter, roach, afraid you'll get stepped on again?"

"Watch it…!" Weevil growled, the tip of his stinger digging into Castiel's neck. "Or I'll see if you be a smartass talking through your neck!"

"Gentlemen, err, gentlebeings, please." Fushioh clambered to his feet. "If our goal is gone and our enemies are afoot, we might as well move onto the next nearby Reaping Tree. Would you like to come with us, Castiel? You still are trying to rebuild your race, aren't you? And if I may be blunt, you are lacking in individual power at the moment."

Castiel thought it over, shifting on his feet. He could feel the last few Orichalcos stones he possessed in boot. Could sense their magic and taste the power they offered.

But there was no angry, demanding song from their light in the back of his head. No insane craving to devour souls instead of blood or the anger at knowing anything he put in his mouth would have all the substance of ash for his body.

In fact, the Orichalcos felt weaker. Frightened almost. Pleading instead of demanding. It was back to being a weapon in his war.

A weapon that needed more ammunition in the form of souls. And if there were more Reaping Trees collecting souls, then he would an excellent war chest to work from.

An image of his sister as she appeared when she had defeated flashed in his mind. _And now I have the perfect candidate to rebuild my race. Either as a worker...or a foundation stone._

"Why not, Fushioh? I'm eager to learn about these Reaping Trees myself. I'll go with you." The vampire held out his hand, and the lich took it. They shook hands. "Now, what's our next destination?"

If the darkness that filled the lich's hollow sockets could have ascribed as an expressing an emotion, it would have been 'delight'. "Have you ever been to Duelist Academy before?"

TTTTTT

 _A/N: __This chapter was something else to write,_ _lemme_ _tell you. Agonizing on scenes, changing dialogue and moves_ _time and again_ _. But I'm_ _really happy_ _with it and I hope you are, too. But fear not if you have questions_ _or concerns,_ _dear reader, for our heroes and villains have just as many and they'll all_ _be addressed_ _next chapter! Which will be out much, much sooner than this one!_

 _Also apologies for card information or lack thereof- both Serenity and Castiel will duel again shortly and their montsers have multiple effects they did not get to use, so I want to avoid spoilers_

 _Next time: As Lyrius and Serenity prepare to depart Duelist Kingdom, they encounter another old flame/friend of the former king who is not happy with her ex's current state of affairs while the good doctor take a long hard look at lines between good and evil. And the newly minted Terrible Trio head off to get an education on an island adventure they'll never forget!_

 _See it all in: Lessons Of The Heart!_


	13. Lessons of the Heart

Kintsugi  
By 7th Librarian

 _A/N: This is not my chapter. I wish it was but this thing belongs to my darling wife. She watched me stress, struggle and fume until she went out, hunted the words down and slew them like the proud lionness she is. All my love and respect, darling._

Chapter 13: Lessons Of The Heart

 _She was frozen silk against him and like a whetstone, it sharpened the edges of his senses that exhaustion and pain had dulled. Flawless skin slid over his body - ice that refused to melt against heat of his sweat as she rode him. The endless waves of her hair washed over him, the smell of lilacs bolstering the scent of their exertions. The blue eyes that stole his breath away were sapphires of commanding lust and dark lips bloomed into a curling sneer of impatient want._

" _Look at you, 'champion.' Helpless against my beauty." The Shadow Queen seemed to derive as much pleasure from her taunting as she did from his cock buried in her. She slowed the roll of her hips, lifting almost free in a lazy fashion. "You disappoint."_

 _Lyrius had no words to respond - she had always had the sharper tongue. And actions were always better than words. He found strength in his need for her, the primal wish for more and warned her with a low growl before grabbing her hips and hurling her into the bed._

 _He gave new meaning to his position as her Shadow as he pinned and enveloped her. He attacked the curves of her breasts with torturous kisses before seizing a nipple in his hungry mouth. The Shadow Queen gasped - only just so, but it still reached his ears. Emboldened, his hands began to warm the icy skin as he sucked, bit and teased the cracks in her defenses. Hard nipples, stark against her paleness that demanded attention and teasing the head of his cock against her needy slit._

 _The Shadow Queen did not yield with any ease or grace. She fisted his hair to shove more of her breast into his mouth or used luxuriously long and powerful legs to try and force him into her, there was the hard regal aura she clung to like a cloak. Hiding the furnace like heat of her lust and passion from him, refusing to admit he had sparked that fire. She was Queen, she was Monarch and she took what she willed and gave nothing - not even moans of pleasure as he teased every inch of her that he could reach. Not even the roll of her hips as his cock ground over the length of her pussy or a desperate intake of breath as he darted low to probe with his tongue._

 _Lyrius was going to tear that regal cloak to shreds. It had always been a gift of his - to divine weaknesses in defenses and chinks in armor. And the Shadow Queen, for all that she knew how to take from him, could only do so on her terms. So when he gave her everything she asked and then again and again and again, she could not do anything but devour her fill._

 _She tasted of salt and sexual need under his tongue, her first orgasm producing a cry of release that cracked the Shadow Queen and the taste of desperation became added to the mix. He coaxed a second from her with his tongue in short order and the command for his attentions became an over eager want as she fisted his hair with both hands, tugging hard to draw him deeper. "L-L-Lyrius…!"_

 _The cloak of his Queen was finally reduced to nothingness as he ground his cock against her, the aftermath of her first two orgasms leaving easy room for a third. Iris spread her legs, pouting up at him as they finally paused to breath. "You...you are not a fair man, my love…"_

" _All is fair in love and war."_

 _"So do you intend to conquer my heart?" Iris said, half-serious. "Or my throne?_ "

" _With you, they are one and the same." He offered the truth in between his eager kisses and sucks over her breasts. "And I will take them whenever wish."_

 _The contented noises rolled from Iris' belly as she felt his cock push into her folds. "Show me."_

 _Their fingers intertwined as he pinned them above her head and began to thrust, slamming his length to the hilt into her depths. Iris began to moan, head lolling against in the pillows. She clenched at him, trying to keep him from ever pulling out. And it made him fuck her all the harder. His Queen, his Iris, becoming liquid silk in the heat of his passion, yielding everything to him._

 _Becoming his. Letting him own her._

 _Lyrius craved more._

 _In between thrusts and the flickering of the firelight, Iris' throaty moans became soft whines timed to his thrusting and burning blue eyes melted into starving honey. Golden tresses bathed in the firelight and soaked in the crimson flames to become a flowing red carpet while full lips in slendered into a desperate, needy pout._

 _Serenity._

 _Lyrius purred in pleasure and thrust harder._

" _More…" The word was a prayer, cool metal fingers gripping his shoulder in supplication. "I need more…"_

 _Lyrius knew she wasn't lying - her pussy was tight around him and her body, trapped beneath his, trembled with pleasure. He shifted, thrusting deeper and kissing her in overwhelming hunger._

 _Serenity clung to him, arms looped over his neck and legs locked around him. She nipped at his lip as they parted, mewling as his length twitched with in her. Lyrius stared into her eyes as he slowed his thrusts and felt himself almost get lost in the lust and craving in them._

 _"I need you."_

 _Lyrius wasn't sure who which of them had said those words. But they were a gospel truth._

TTTTTTT

He woke like the flip of a switch, the bed a mess of thrown-off sheets and scattered pillows. The complete darkness of his room swaddled him, it's cool touch sharp against his flushed skin. It pierced through the after-haze of the sleep, but not his dream. Lyrius could feel his want for it to become a reality lurking in his gut and pressing into the mattress.

He rolled over and draped an arm over his forehead as he closed his eyes. It wasn't like him to have an erotic dream - why fantasize about sex with someone attractive when you could make it real? Dreaming of Iris was understandable, though. She dwelled with in his thoughts and heart already. _It would be just like her to go out of her way to insert herself into my dreams just to ensure she is always the center of my attention._

But Iris had never turned into another woman before. _Even with my other paramours, none of them overshadowed her like this before. Even if they were similar to Iris in some fashion._ An image of Serenity - no, it was Doctor Death - flashed in front of him and his body ached with response.

 _It was a sex dream,_ an exhausted part of his mind sighed. _There's no deep meaning to it, except that it's been a very long time._

...but since when had any of his dreams _not_ had a deeper meaning?

There were some obvious ideas as to what that meaning might be. Serenity carried his wife's necklace and its accompanying magic. And Lyrius and Iris had been bound by similar magic eons ago. Ergo, with Iris herself no longer on the Material Plane, the connection had jumped to Serenity due to her increasing similarity to Iris. _If this is true, then a whole new set of complications are going to entangle themselves in my life._

Another idea was simply he was developing 'Florence Nightingale' syndrome. Serenity had been taking care of him and nursing him back to health over the last month and she was the first honest contact he'd had in nearly a year. And now that she was in peril and confused about the magic she had, he was letting his protective emotions bleed into his grief over Iris and was subconsciously trying to replace the Queen with a doctor.

Alternatively - and a touch more concerning - was the idea that it was the necklace influencing Serenity to fall in love with him. That Iris' magic was doing more than coloring her outlook and attitude, that it was sinking its way deep into the doctor's heart.

But they were several holes in all of those theories and he sighed as his mind picked them apart. _The bond Iris and I had required eating her heart and was specific to the two of us, not her magic in general. And I am too pragmatic and clear-minded to ever convince myself that I could replace Iris. My previous lovers can attest to that. And the shadow magic is just magic - it cannot carry emotion or Iris' personality._

If there was a deeper meaning to this dream, it was eluding him. So at this point, the best move concerning it would be just to accept it as a dream and move on. He was tired - fighting a giant spider was draining and worrying over Serenity and her stepbrother even more so.

His bone weiriness stalled as a light hand knocked at the door, as though terrified of disturbing him. "Lyrius?"

He reached over, blinking against the sudden light of the side table lamp as he flicked it on. "Enter."

The door opened and Serenity slid in, looking more diminutive than he'd ever seen thanks her oversize t-shirt and baggy sweatpants swallowing her frame. And not helped at all by the timid expression on her face - not that Lyrius could blame her. "What is troubling you?"

"You just had sex with me. In your dream. And I woke up really liking that." Serenity blurted. "Except for the part where it was a dream. But not because it needs to be real, but because it was your dream and I shouldn't have been in it."

Lyrius felt his level of concern jump a few more feet. "You experienced my dream?"

She nodded, seating herself in the desk chair. "You were having sex with Iris. And it was weird because I could feel what you felt, but also what she felt and then I was in her place and I could see myself as you looking down at me. And look into your eyes at the same time."

"I see." Lyrius frowned. "How disconcerting."

"I'm not actually bothered by that. Or by the fact it was a sex dream. It was kind of nice and at my age, getting any action is good." Serenity's wry grin appeared for a moment, only to vanish back into her timid concern. "The fact that it was _your_ dream, however, is kind of worrying me. Is the necklace connecting us?"

"That is something concerning me as well." Lyrius shook his head. "But that seems unlikely. The necklace was Iris and she is the one who put the magics in it, not I. I cannot think of anything that could cause such a connection."

"You said Iris and you had your own magical connection, though."

"Yes. A blood magic wedding ritual that requires one to eat the other's heart raw." Lyrius offered a faint smile at Serenity's raised eyebrow. "So unless you have been developing a craving to eat mine…"

"Not in the least." Serenity held up a hand to ward the idea away, her expression still concerned. "But that's not to say I haven't developed some new things." She held out her hand and in flicker of dark fire edged in blue, the angular mask of Doctor Death appeared in her palm. "Like this."

"A construct…" Lyrius could feel the touch of shadow magic in the mask, the red-tinted lenses glaring at him with balefulness. "But why?"

She lifted her head from the mask to give him a look of surprise. "You mean you don't know?"

"No. Iris never had kind of ability with her shadow magic. Most schools allow you to create an elementally-affiliated weapon; like a blade of fire, for example. But those exist only for a short time.." He reached out and after a moment's hesitation, she passed it to him. Despite it's small size, the mask held more weight than it should have. It cool and satiny to the touch and even as he ran his fingers over it, Lyrius could find no seam or edge or divot to indicate that the item had been made by mortal means. Nor did it have any give when he tried to twist the edges or fold it on itself.

After a few more minutes of examination, he passed it back to Serenity. "This mask is something real. As permanent as anything else. I suspect that when you dismiss it, it ceases to be and when you want it, you remake it again."

"I do?" Serenity glanced at the mask, then up at him. "When I call it up, it feels like it comes from within the necklace. I just figured the gemstones were like a Bag of Holding or something, letting me store as much as I wanted there."

"No. That kind of magic is restrictive to how well it interacts with other spells - putting that on there would have meant all of the other magics Iris wished on it would not have worked. If you feel that you are 'pulling' it from the necklace, that is the sensation of you tapping into the shadow magic." Lyrius stared at the mask again. "What happens when you put it on?"

"I feel...powerful and I can sense magic in the necklace better. I don't feel tired at all, instead I have so much energy that I feel like I could take on the whole world." Serenity fingered the mask, staring at her own reflection in the lenses. "That my new power is intoxicating in the best of the worst ways and I want to drown in it forever. That I can take whatever I want."

"Like me?" Lyrius didn't miss the sheepish look that darted over Serenity's face. "You were throwing yourself at me down in the caverns. And we almost kissed before then."

"Which I still haven't really forgiven you about, by the way. And besides, who wouldn't want a piece of your deliciousness?" She gave him a teasing smile, but it was gone in the same moment and replaced by a heavy sigh. "I am not so forward like that about romance as a matter of course, Lyrius. But with the mask on, my victory over Castiel and you radiating shadow magic and bloodlust and I just...well, I was Doctor Death again, young and fiery."

Lyrius smiled. "If you were like that all the time when you were younger, it'd would have been worth the risk to get burned to get a romantic prescription from you."

Serenity giggled. "Oh, that was a terrible way to flirt, but it was very sweet all the same. Thank you."

"You're welcome. Could you tell me about your brother?"

The giggling vanished and she gripped the mask in her lap with a sigh. "Way to kill the mood, Lyrius."

"I need to know, Serenity. He still lives and will come after us. The more I know about him, the better prepared we can be."

"I know, I know...but…" She fingered the edges of the mask, turning it to face her. "My history with him is complicated and painful." She could see her face in the red lenses, tired and weary and red enough to be stained in blood. "I'm coming to terms with it myself, anyway. If I can't do that, I really can't share it well with you."

"Serenity, he nearly took your soul and has an interest in the Reaping Trees along with the Orichalcos. He poses a threat now and possibly an even greater one in the future if he's left unchecked. We need to-"

"I said later, Lyrius!" Serenity punctuated her snap words with the banishing of the mask in a flick of dark fire. She stood and stormed towards the window, hugging herself and pointedly looking away from him.

Lyrius watched for a few quiet moments before almost whispering his next question. "Why does he scare you so much?"

Serenity didn't respond right away, but there was shift in her stance from 'angry' to 'annoyed'. "I hate it when you do that, you know."

"Do what?"

"Just cut right to the heart of something. You suck at social skills, but you're scary good at reading people."

"I learned it-"

" 'over a lifetime of serving as Queen's Shadow'." Serenity finished for him with a snort. "You know, I think I might have a heart attack if I ever heard you learned something that you didn't relate to your Queen's Shadow job."

"You would be surprised at what those things were. Why does your brother scare you so much, Serenity?"

Another snort. "You don't get distracted, either."

"No. Why does your brother scare you so much?"

Serenity didn't want to answer - he could see it in her stance clear as day. Alongside fear and worry. But eventually, she spoke. "He scare me because he is something I could have been once. Something bad and evil and frightening. A monster."

She hugged her arms tighter. "Fifty years ago, when I was teenager, he and I did some terrible things to a lot of innocent animals. Things that I'm ashamed of now."

"Tell me?"

The war inside her was obvious - the fear of what he would think, versus her desire for transparency in their relationship. She hugged herself so tightly that Lyrius wondered if she might disappear altogether. Years of bad memories played out over the surface of her face. Through them all, Lyrius just waited, watching the resolve slowly harden across her features.

"I was six when we moved to America…"

OOO

"Excuse me, is this your dog?"

Seated in a corner the bar in a squishy-looking chair, Voltaire looked up from his perusal of home gardening catalogues at the woman in elegant ruffled red vest and a wide-brimmed hat. She was dragging a very chastised Baskerville by the tail. "Um...maybe. Perhaps you should tell me what he did first?"

"He used my parasol as a chew toy," with a flick of her wrist, the aforementioned fashion accessory appeared, however it's capacity for shade was limited as the woman lifted it pointedly over her head. The black lace had been shredded, leaving only a few scraps clinging to the silver frame.

"Ah…" dropping the magazine Voltaire chewed over her statement. "Well yes, that does sound like something my dog would do…" He trailed off, as the woman's head twisted to survey the stricken canine enough for him to catch a glimpse beneath her dark glasses. "...I assume the priority in spellwork was given to its ability to repel sunlight, rather than efforts to make it dog-proof?"

The vampire's eyebrow flickered in irritation. "It was _supposed_ to be indestructible."

"Really?" Voltaire's surprise was more than enough to jolt him out of the wariness that had stolen over him at the sight of the woman's red eyes. Instead he leaned over and squished his pet's face between both hands affectionately. "Who's a good boy, proving other people's spells inadequate? You are! Yes you are!"

Somewhat soothed by the affection and overall soppiness of Voltaire's voice, Baskerville responded by drooling over his master's hands.

"What a good master you are, reimbursing poor souls for damaged property." The woman offered a thin razor-like smile at Voltaire's startled look. "Magical parasols are not cheap, Shadowchaser and since I lack a newspaper with which to swat your dog on the nose, I am going to require another form of satisfaction."

"Sorry to disappoint," all of Voltaire's playfulness vanished, and he went instantly back on alert. "But my blood is not available."

"And here I thought you Shadowchasers were supposed to be beyond such stereotyping." She gave him an arch look. "I don't want your blood, human. I want your money."

Voltaire did have the decency to blush. "Oh. I see. I do apologise. Most unprofessional of me to assume, but it has been a trying few days...anyway, I'm afraid I am short on cash right now. Well, clean cash. My spare pair of trousers were saturated with spider guts earlier today and my wallet with it. I'm sure they'll dry out overnight, so if you could wait maybe until tomorrow-"

"There's an ATM down the way and I know you Shadowchasers have access to Jalal's horde with your debit cards, so there's no need to wait." The vampire interrupted smoothly.

"I...suppose," Voltaire eyed the woman up and down. "...and the person for whom I am parting with untold amounts of money is…?"

"The humans here address me as the Lady Demesiolle. But you may address me as Dracula."

Voltaire suddenly went very still, like a rabbit that just heard the snapping of a twig and was just beginning to realize it may have very well have eaten it's last carrot. His eyes bugged out behind his glasses and when he finally spoke his voice had gone up a few octaves.

"...One moment please."

Standing up he reached into his coat pockets and began to rummage through them. He'd have to periodically take out some seemingly random item and toss it aside but eventually he managed to pull out a small leather pouch that jingled merrily.

"Aaand there we go, the currency might be a few decades out of date but I'm sure for the right collector that will only increase it's value. Can I assume I am no longer in immediate mortal peril or shall I make an attempt at giving myself a sporting chance by diving out the window?"

She regarded the bag, then gave him a look that could have charitably described as 'are you for real?' "You're giving me money that is out of date and requires me to go to a third party to convert it into useable currency as well somehow get it through border security and so on...instead of using your infinite debit card that you should have on your person right now." There was a pause. "I've had people lose things in my presence, but I didn't think 'dumbstruck' was a literal term."

"Yes well, emphasis on 'should' have on my person. As is the case with the mobile phone, the automobile, and a veritable laundry list of other gew-gaws, debit cards are one of those items I've made a habit of avoiding like the plague."

Dracula's expression didn't change, but there was some kind of shift in her presence that made Voltaire feel quite small. "You would be entertaining if you weren't so inconvenient. So you must be Voltaire Amore. So not only can you not pay for my lost property, you lost both Bartlett and Castiel and you left a terrible mark on my songbird's heart."

Voltaire blinked, then blinked again. "I'm sorry, songbird? I'm not arguing the first three issues you have with me but that last one doesn't ring a bell."

"Lyrius Stormcloud." Dracula's smile showed she was enjoying another round of Voltaire's surprise. "Now, tell me you haven't lost him today as well?"

"Oh Lyra!" Voltaire's expression brightened up considerably. "Had me worried for a moment. While I do regret how things ended between us I am happy to say at the moment he is neither missing nor otherwise incapacitated, in fact I believe he is nearby if you wish to speak with him."

"That is exactly what I wish." She rapped him smartly on the shoulder with her ruined parasol. "Lead on...and for Goodness sake, leave your drooling menace behind?"

OOO

Serenity had moved to sitting on the end of the bed, legs drawn to her chest during her story. She wasn't looking directly at Lyrius, but off into the shadows of the room and perhaps the past. "I knew what I was doing was wrong, but doing them felt...natural. Right. They made me happy. Especially when my disease got worse and the blindness lasted longer and longer. I could kill without needing to see and feeling all their blood and organs between my fingers was so much more real. I was a kid, so I thought if I just played with dead things or hurt bad animals, it was okay."

She looked strained at the words, enough so that Lyrius felt the need to say something to comfort her. "People have done far worse on far weaker logic and you were a child - your reasoning was limited. Losing your eyesight, moving across the world, trying to fit into a new family and society - no child can be expected to cope with that well and rage and frustration often have strange ways of expressing themselves."

For a moment, Lyrius thought he had been too blunt, but Serenity offered him a smile. "You sound like my therapist. But it's okay. I made peace with that long time ago - it's just an old scar that got ripped open."

"By your stepbrother." Lyrius watched as Serenity sighed through her nose and nodded into her knees. "He did the same things you did, minus the degenerative eye disease. What are your paths so radically different?"

"The short version is that I got better and Ryan didn't." She paused, "No, I take that back. I got better at accepting my desires and channeling them into good things, like my medical career. Ryan got better at hiding his."

"So he continued killing animals even after you were discovered and given counseling?"

"We weren't discovered until we were ten, so we were already good at hiding the evidence. And Ryan was a smart cookie - he read a couple of psychology books and learned to speak what adults wanted to hear. He kept himself looking clean and by the time of my eye surgery, we all thought that it was behind us." She swallowed, the sound thick and heavy. "That's when I started finding the bodies."

Lyrius frowned in concern. "He had become a murderer."

"Of animals, at least at first. I was working as a taxidermist - my therapist suggested it would be a healthy outlet for me - and someone brought in their pet dog that had disappeared and been found days later. They wanted to preserve poor 'Muffin'. But that dog showed signs it had been tortured before it had been killed."

"You suspected your brother."

"Yes. Ryan liked to poke and prod our animals with knives before we played doctor on them. And after a few months, with the news started reporting on a string of missing pets found days later having been tortured and vivisected, I knew it was him." Serenity rolled a lock of her graying hair between her fingers. "I was sixteen and somehow thought that if I just talked to him, he'd listen to me. He was my brother and we were close. He'd accept that he'd need more help."

Lyrius felt a familiar weight settle in his stomach. He knew that tone and those words. He'd spoken them so many times before about Iris in recent years. About the Shadow Queen. She loves me, I love her, she'll listen to me. And things will go back to the way they were before. And they'll get better.

They were words that gave definition to the phrase 'a fool's hope'. And judging by the look on Serenity's face, she knew the same thing he did - that hope was doomed to fail the moment she said it. "Ryan didn't listen or get more help, did he?"

Serenity gave him a bitter snort. "Oh, he wanted help. _My_ help at playing our old games. Except he had changed the rules. Now we were going after the biggest animal around." She licked her lips, voice suddenly dry. "Humans."

The word hung in the air between them and Lyrius watched as her honey eyes searched around the room as if looking for a way to erase it. But there was not any answer in here. Just her and her story.

And him. He found himself reaching out and grabbing her good hand in his own. She started at the contact, blinking at it as if unsure how to process it and then squeezed his fingers back. As if drawing strength from it, she continued.

"He'd started researching death and magic in other cultures after I got back from Japan for my surgery and told him about Joey's adventures with the Millenium Items. And started experimenting. With the animals at first, but by the time I confronted him, he'd taken a person. Some hobo off the street. He showed me this room with the body atop a pentagram and candles and blood and-" Serenity squeezed Lyrius' fingers again. "He'd gotten it work, the magic. I could feel it in the air. It was just like the Shadow Games from Battle City. It was...cold."

Lyrius knew what she was talking about. Darkness Games sucked the heat and life out of the surrounding area, death trying to conquer life. "He made you duel him when you wouldn't help him."

"Yes. It was hard and cruel and painful - he had it set so that we could take lethal wounds, but not die from them. I had my legs broken, my gut cut open, my head bashed in. And he kept trying convince me I was like him, that I was denying myself so much. When I finally won, he just looked so _sad_ it was scary. Like he'd lost everything and then he started talking about how he was going to try again and that he'd show me what my real truth was and I…" Her fingers were so tight on his that they were almost white. "I remember grabbing my Duel Disk and taking it...running at him...and just hitting him again and again until there was blood and brains and bones…"

Lyrius drew her close, wrapping his arms around her. She leaned her weight into him, head on his shoulder. There were no tears, but a frustrated, pained-backed growl of exhaustion as her metal thumped on the bedspread. "He was _dead_ , Lyrius. I _killed_ him. And now...now he's back as some kind of freaking vampire and he knows I'm alive, too."

"You're afraid that he's not going to let you go know that he knows." Lyrius squeezed her as she nodded into his shoulder.

"He won't. He won't stop coming after me until I kill him again or he gets me. I barely escaped last time…"

"You are not alone this time." Lyrius reminded her. "And you are stronger than you were back then."

"I don't even know how to use this damn magic without becoming...becoming...I don't know... _worse._ "

"The magic is not corrupting, Serenity."

She looked up at him with a scowl. "I summoned a mask of my alter ego and whenever I use, I become a murder-happy lust filled version of myself! If it's not corruption, then what exactly is it?"

"In my experience, it is an exaggeration of the truth. And mortals have such hard time coping with the truth."

The new voice did a wonderful job in dispelling the dark atmosphere of the room as Serenity squeaked in surprise and shot bolt upright off the bed, Lyrius frowning as he recognized it again. "Eilistraee."

"Hello again, Lyrius." Seated in the chair Serenity had vacated minutes ago was the drow goddess. The shadows in that part of the room seemed to shift to swaddle her and even in the weak lamplight, she looked as perfect as any being had a right to be.

Serenity felt her heart skip a beat at the sight of this woman. No, that word felt too weak. This was an individual not limited to such a word. Her beauty was breathtaking, alluring like a siren's call...and just as frightening. She'd never seen anyone like this before and her brain struggled to put the being into words she could codify. All she felt was a sense that this elf was far more than she showed and the power she wielded defied rational understanding.

"Who...who are…" Her mouth was dry and didn't seem to want to move, doubly so when Eilistraee tilted her head to look at her. The goddess' gaze was heavy even when bland and Serenity's legs struggled to find any strength to support her. "I-"

"The question better asked, " The goddess spoke, her words warm and not unkind. But they still had weight. "Is who _you_ are, child."

There was a weight in Serenity's hand and she knew without looking it was her mask. It was cool in her grasp and a portion of her begged to put it on, to tap into the shadow magic again and stand tall against this intruder. But then Lyrius' hand landed on her shoulder, a telltale pin-pricking over her skin that chased away the fearful awe she had been feeling followed by a few moments of heavy, dark pressure that would have send a grown man to his knees in fear of death.

For her, though, the feeling was like a comforting blanket being wrapped around her, pleasing and strengthening and Serenity breathed a little easier. "Lyrius-?"

"She is Eilistraee. The goddess I mentioned back on Satellite. She is manifesting on this plane of existence and what you are feeling is what most mortals feel when something beyond their scope of understanding is before them." Lyrius guided her to sit on the edge of the bed and with care, pulled Doctor Death's mask from her fingers to set on the nightstand.

"Why aren't you-?"

"I am not a mortal." Lyrius reminded her and he straightened, giving the drow goddess a cool look. "And I am...used to her presence. She is not an uncommon occurrence in my life."

"Friends are an uncommon occurrence in your life, Lyrius and that is all too-unfortunate." The goddess said. "Another truth that is hard to accept."

"Why are you here?" Lyrius demanded.

"I am here for the same reason I am always here." Eilistraee said. "For you."

"Congratulations. I am here. Now leave."

"You would have me leave before I can assuage Serenity's fears about her new magic and your growing connection to her?" Eilistraee gave him a disapproving eyebrow raise.

Lyrius' scowl grew a bit, but she was unfazed. He glanced out of the corner of his eye at Serenity, who had been watching the exchange. The doctor gave him a slow nod. He let out a dark sigh and stepped away, leaning against the wall with his arms folded. "Speak, Eilistraee. Then take your leave."

Serenity couldn't help but feel that talking to a being whose mere presence made her body and brain go haywire like she was an inconvenience was a bad idea. But then Eilistraee fixed a gentle golden gaze on her. "Oh. Um. I…"

"Be at peace. I know what troubles you, child." Eilistraee said. "And your fears are unfounded. Shadow magic is not a corrupting force. Not in the way you think it to be."

"But when I use it, I feel...too strong. Like I can do anything with it and no one could stop. That I want to hurt my enemies and make them regret ever challenging me. That I want to…" Serenity paused and swallowed, falling silent.

"That you want to kill them." Eilistraee finished and Serenity nodded. "And these feelings terrify you because they are exactly what you felt when you were small and trapped in the dark and the only light in that suffocating darkness was the feeling of trapped life thrashing in futility between your fingers."

Serenity felt herself pale, the earlier fear sprouting again. She lifted her head to look at Lyrius, but he was gazing back at her, stone-faced and unreadable as always.

"And you fear the shadow magic will sitr those feelings into a storm, that you will sink your claws into the flesh of the weak and paint yourself in their blood. That you could stack a pile of corpses to the heavens themselves and it would not be enough for you."

Serenity felt herself nod, a jerking motion. "Yes."

Moonlight ghosted over her skin and Serenity lifted her head, the knot of anxiety in her gut dissolving at the deity's kind, gentle expression. "Again, I tell you that your fears are unfounded and not possible to ever exist."

"How?" The harsh word slipped out before she had time to think. "Why? What could you know about this?"

"I am a goddess. I know." The words were definitive and ironclad. "Shadow magic is not like other schools of magic, child. It does nothing to you that you do not wish to be."

Seeing Serenity's confused expression, Eilistraee continued. "Shadow magic, at its core, is synergistic with its user. It is a magic that changes on who is using and what the truth is about themselves. They become as close to that truth as possible. Iris, who desired power above all and wish for it to be eternally, gained powers reflecting that and became the darkly beautiful Shadow Queen. Lyrius, devoted eternally to her and wishing to hide in the darkness, became a shadow in more than name."

Lyrius made a noise, though Serenity couldn't determine if it was out of irritation or an acknowledgement. But her attention was more focused on her mask - when had it gotten there from the nightstand? - and its weight in her hand. "And me?"

"The woman who became a devoted healer and the girl who wanted the world to suffer her pain - to you, they are two different people. But the girl you were did not become the adult you are and the magic bridges that gap." Eilistraee nodded at the mask in Serenity's hands. "That magic gives you that mask because in your heart, you believe that 'Doctor Death' is what that girl would have grown up into. Powerful, eager towards violence and drinking bloodlust like wine."

"Why would it do that - I'm not that person anymore!"

"Because it is what you fear the most and it is that fear that is the bedrock for your life. Everything you have done on the path you are on is to ensure that dark part of you never saw light of day again." Eilistraee said in a quiet, sure voice. By Serenity's side, Lyrius continued to glare.

"That does not answer my question," he insisted. "Why are you here?"

"For you." Eilistraee repeated. "Your dreams trouble you, your power wilts away and more forces are gathering to oppose you. You will not survive the oncoming storm."

"Convenient that it is only when I am in dire need of help that deities pay any attention to me that isn't telling me which hell I should burn in for eternity." Lyrius' tone was blithe and bitter.

"I have always kept an eye on you, Lyrius. And have aided you out of no more than my desire to do so." The goddess retorted, though there wasn't any malice in it.

"Your attention is to your benefit, not mine. Or did you not tell me last time of a power in Arcadia and a new Shadow Queen that needed dealing with? And you provided no answer when I asked you were needing me to be your champion against it!" Lyrius snapped.

Eilistraee was silent for a moments, her frosted silver hair undulating slightly in non-existent currents. "You are already being drawn into that conflict, Lyrius. I only wish for you to _survive_ it."

"Drawn into it? By who or what?" Lyrius gestured in irritation. "I am trying to get to Las Vegas. I have no interest in any of this."

"I do not know the identity of whom conspires against you, only that they do. Your encounters with the lich, the vampire and the Reaping Trees are not a coincidence. You are being pushed back into destiny's path."

"And you are the one holding the yoke, goddess." Lyrius said, folding his arms. "I fulfilled my destiny. Iris is gone and fate is done with me. Let me live out my life."

"I will not let you throw it away in a fit of pique misery and self-loathing anguish!" For the first time, Eilistraee's soft, even tone rose and Serenity flinched. There was a new weight behind those words and she felt the fear stir in the pit of her stomach. "You are more than that and you are strong enough to remember you were someone once worthy of love and devotion!"

"It was the love given to a loyal pet and devotion to a well-crafted tool!" Lyrius barked. If he was feeling the same weight that Serenity was behind Eilistraee's words, he wasn't showing it. Instead, the edges of his hair were melting together like black fabric that shed ragged bits of itself into the air. "There were a thousand like me and a thousand more after!"

"Do not speak such falsehood to me, Lyrius Stormcloud!" The goddess was standing now, her presence filling the room and pressing in from all sides like they were underwater. "Your lies can stitch together your pain and heartbreak and loss into a cloak for you hide from the world in, but you are better than that! Your wife loved you more than she had words to speak and so did Lyrissa!"

"Do not mention my daughter!" Lyrius was angry now, his hair darkening further into a mass of miasma and magic. His eyes were roiling lightning storms, the force of his glare enough to strike a lesser man dead.

"She was my priestess and devoted to her faith and her father. I will not dishonor her memory by forgetting she ever existed as you have!"

"I have not forgotten! I have _never_ forgotten!" Lyrius' rage was palpable, looking more like a predator than a person. "Never forgotten how her devotion to her goddess and faith got her killed! How the deity she praised and sworn oaths to failed to fulfil them in her hour of need!"

"Just as you have never forgotten how her loving father moved heaven and earth and failed to save her as well?" Eilistraee's voice was still level, but Serenity couldn't help but wince at the direct jab. "You cling to your failure like it was ambrosia and refuse to remember naught else about your beloved child. You do more harm to your daughter than her captors ever did, using her memory as a punishment! Lyrius Stoneheart!"

Lyrius flinched as she had struck him, but his power flared and he clenched his fist in preparation to strike the goddess. But her red eyes stared back at his stormy black ones and after a few tense moments, his power subsided. He glared at her for a minute, then slid past her and stormed out the door, slamming it into the wall as he went.

"You do not have to face your pain alone, Lyrius." If her words reached his ears, he gave no sign of it and the goddess frowned softly after him. "Why are mortals so stubborn in clinging to their sorrows?"

Her gaze darted over to Serenity, who felt her body stiffen under the deity's intensity. "Remember, child, the magic you possess reflects the truth in your heart. You must learn to accept them, even the ones you wish were not real. Or they will become your worst fears realized."

Then she was gone, in the span of a space less than a blink. Serenity stared at the space where she had been, trying to process what exactly had just happened. She wasn't sure long she was like that until a knock at the open door made her jump and let out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding.

Voltaire was standing in the doorway, a curious look on his face and a hand raised to knock again. "Is...is now a good time?"

TTTTTTT

It was amazing how quickly people got out of your way when you were angry. The crowds of tourists, vacationers and duelists all hurried to be busy somewhere that was away from Lyrius. Though given that he had no real idea or care where he was gone, a few were unlucky enough to not get out of the way and found themselves combating chills and goosebumps as he passed. One person would swear their plant wilted a little.

 _Why cannot Eilistraee leave me alone?_ Lyrius fumed as he found a path that lead to one of the exterior walls. _She took my daughter from me, is that not enough meddling? Or do I have to suffer until I become martyr?_

Anger simmered away, rational thoughts beginning to reassert themselves.

 _She wanted my attention. And I gave her just that. I let her get under my skin._ The thought filled him with shame and self-loathing. _I should have stayed in Satellite...I should have died there…_

The realisation was chilling, and the urge to run - from everything - was overwhelming. Instead he forced himself to stop, leaning heavily against the wall, fists clenched and trembling. The world was suffocating, the noise of people threatening to drown him and his strength was fragile. He felt the word swim a bit and he grit his teeth, trying to shut everything out and failing. _Lyrissa...Iris…_

His family. His joy. His happiness.

His failures.

Lead filled his limbs and a half-choked sob slipped free. He closed his eyes, ignoring the need for tears. He was past that. The world could just swallow him up and for a moment, he considered just letting go and letting the crowd swallow him up and grind away at his identity and being and -

A dark presence shrouded over him, cool and inviting and the world's noise became muted and dull. Light footsteps reached him and the presence halted nearby. "You are always too hard on yourself when you're alone, dear songbird."

He knew that voice. It crept over him like a spectre from darker days. Was she here for him too? To finish their fight properly this time, instead of just letting him attack fruitlessly over and over? Or was she like Eilistraee, looking to recruit him for her own means? He should be on guard.

But he wasn't. He felt too empty.

Castiel. Eilistraee. Dracula. They could have what they wanted from him. He had nothing else to give.

He nearly jumped out of his skin when a strong pair of arms wrapped around him from behind. If Serenity had not spent weeks teaching him how to accept a hug, he would have probably put the vampire through the nearest wall. "Dracula?"

A gentle shushing brushed his ear. As she pressed against his back he felt her cheek come to rest against his neck. He almost wished that she would bite. One hand slid up his chest and pressed against his heart.

"You are hurting," Dracula murmured. "More than ever."

"How did you-"

"Shh." A finger pressed against his lips as the other hand gently pulled him around to face her. She had not changed since that cold dark night. "It will be alright, Lyrius."

There was no hint of malice or ill feeling in her voice, and it unnerved him more than anything that had happened that day.

"Come," effortlessly, she began to steer him towards the stairs. "We have much to catch up on."

Shaken and confused, Lyrius allowed himself to be pulled.

OOO

"I should go look for him."

Voltaire's look spoke volumes. "Lyra is a shadow - the master of disappearing. If he doesn't want to be found, it is simply not possible to locate him. And I suspect that he most definitely does not want to be found at this moment." He shook his head. "If I had deities and vampires tracking me down on what I can only assume are a series of recruitment drives, I would probably feel the same."

From the floor, Baskerville whined and nuzzled at Serenity's leg. She was not exactly certain what had happened to him, but he had been subdued - almost chastised - ever since he had lumbered his way in after his master and comically tried to wedge his bulk beneath the shelter of the tiny end table. From the way he kept sniffing her right foot, she suspected that he might have designs on her shoe, but she was not going to complain if he did - she was well aware that they owed Voltaire a lot.

"Castiel is still out there." While she had no doubts that she could handle him again, she knew how reckless Lyrius could be when he was emotionally vulnerable, and Eilistraee had torn open a huge wound before departing.

"I've searched the whole island from top to bottom," Voltaire assured. "I found no trace of him. I assume he has skulked away to lick his wounds, but where I cannot say. We will have to wait until he resurfaces."

"And what happened to the tree?"

"Have no fear. I put a few calls into the office while you were sleeping. Reinforcements are arriving shortly to assist me in purifying it."

Serenity blinked. "You know how to purify it?"

The Shadowchaser grinned. "I know a few tricks. You've met Rayearth, yes? She is the one responsible for training me...and beating civilisation into me." He added with a self-deprecating shrug. "She was the first person I spoke to for advice on the situation. Oh, she sends her regards."

A little impressed by the efficiency of the Shadowchasers, Serenity smiled. "That's good news - was that one of your reinforcements just now?" She had seen the figure barging past Voltaire in the direction that Lyrius had vanished, and she felt the ache that begged her to go after Lyrius and make sure he was okay. It should have been her - not a stranger.

"Oh heavens, no!" Voltaire exclaimed with a laugh. "That was Dracula."

Serenity's chin slipped off her hand as she gaped at the Shadowchaser. "Excuse me?"

"Yes, the ruler of the vampires herself," Voltaire's voice was deliberately casual, and Serenity was not buying it for a moment - the woman made him nervous. "I have to confess, when I said I was going to drop her a note about Sally Bartlett, and did not expect that she would come here in person-"

"Hang on, hang on," Serenity was already at the door and peering down the corridor, even though she knew that the mysterious woman would be long gone. "Is it...wise, to let her go after Lyrius?"

She could not help but worry that if he showed that much contempt for a goddess like Eilistraee, how much contempt would he show the ruler of an entire species?

Voltaire snorted. "Even if we were physically capable of stopping her, I would not want to risk it. She more than implied to me when she introduced herself that she and Lyra have some sort of history." Seeing Serenity's frown, he clarified. "The ' _horizontal mambo_ ' sort of history, not the ' _using your skull as a wine goblet_ ' history."

"Thanks for the image," Serenity drawled, sitting back down on the bed.

"You are welcome," Voltaire did not miss a beat. "So yes, I do believe that Lyrius is safe with her. And if he weren't, no doubt we would have heard the resulting kerfuffle already."

"Good…" Trying not to worry, Serenity pulled the nearest pillow into her lap and began idly fluffing it. The fact that it smelt like Lyrius did nothing to ease her anxiety. "Is she just here for Sally? Or will she go after Castiel too?"

"Hard to say," from somewhere in his pockets, Voltaire had pulled out a home gardening magazine, and appeared to be pursuing a very detailed page on indoor pot plants. "If she is, she certainly will not take it lightly. My understanding is that she takes the behaviour of her species very seriously. If Castiel is acting in such a manner that would impact negatively on the vampire race, she will almost certainly attempt to track him down herself."

Part of Serenity was relieved - if Dracula took charge of hunting Castiel down, maybe she would never have to see her brother again. But a part of her - the part that had lived in Satellite and watched over Mai and Joey during Battle City - told her that life was never that simple. Castiel's fate was as tied to hers now as her Doctor Death mask.

"Will she succeed?" she found herself asking. She did not realise that she had hugged the pillow until she realised that Lyrius's scent was permeating her brain.

Peering over the edge of his magazine, Voltaire looked thoughtful. "I can only speculate, I am afraid. Compared to, say, what we Shadowchasers have at our disposal, Dracula lacks resources in a lot of ways. She is somewhat hampered by her species seclusion - vampires like their privacy and have had centuries of practice hiding. And obviously, she is limited in her operating hours by her sensitivity to sunlight - though obviously, there are magical means of getting around that."

Nodding, Serenity found the medical part of her brain idly wondering how that particular mythological fact actually functioned in real life, and she resolved to ask Lyrius later.

"But," Voltaire waved his magazine from side to side as though weighing up the odds. "Dracula has a reputation for tenacity which is matched only by her bloodlust. It would be safe to say that if she takes up a charge personally, she will see it through to the end...as evidenced earlier when she tried to extort compensation for her ruined parasol from me." He shuddered and beneath the end table, Baskerville whined in a pitiful sort of manner. "In conclusion, I believe that while it may take time and unorthodox methods, if Dracula were to hunt down Castiel...not even deities themselves would be able to save him from her."

Blinking at the bald declaration, Serenity felt something hard drop into the pit of her stomach, and she squeezed the pillow for comfort. She had felt nothing warm or nostalgic when she had duelled her brother so ferociously, but confronted with the idea of him actually meeting his end...

He was cruel. Twisted. A threat to her and everyone around her.

And yet once he had been her companion. Her confidant. Her friend. And she had mourned the small part of him that had been all those things when he had gone. He was her family. After everything and everyone she had lost, could she really write him off so callously?

But what else could she do? He was too dangerous to be left unchecked.

And deep inside, a new, cold thought entered her mind. Was she sad that he might have to die? Or was the part of her where Doctor Death dwelled just sad that she would not be the one to do it this time?

From what felt like a million miles away, Voltaire cleared his throat.

"Do I detect conflict, Doctor Wheeler?"

Discomfort squirmed in Serenity's belly. She had shared with Lyrius, but she was not comfortable sharing with Voltaire. "If it's all the same to you, I'd rather not-"

"Understood," the Shadowchaser leaned back in his seat, magazine coming to obscure his face again. "It's not my business after all. And death is never pleasant, no matter who the recipient. Your compassion is by far your best asset, doctor."

Smiling, Serenity replace the pillow on the bed. "Well, I appreciate your patience. And I know Lyrius says you talk too much, but I'm really grateful that you are willing to take the time to explain things to me."

There was a boyish delight to Voltaire's smile. "That is extremely kind of you. Not many people appreciate my in depth summaries."

"Well, that's their loss," Serenity concluded, getting up from the bed and stretching. "Do you think it's safe to go and look for them now?"

"I don't see why not." Replacing the magazine into the depths of his pockets once more, Voltaire rose and offered her an arm. "Now see, if Lyra could communicate his appreciation as well as you can, we'd still be together."

"Aww," Serenity nudged him playfully in the shoulder as the door closed behind them. "Stifled by lack of talking? You must have _hated_ that."

"Oh very much so! For instance, I dated that man for six months, and he never once mentioned that he and Dracula were an item."

"We still aren't certain they were - they could have just slept together."

"She calls him 'songbird', Dr Wheeler. If that's not the pet name of a serious lover, I'll ride Baskerville naked around the island."

"...I wouldn't have thought you'd need an excuse to do that."

OOO

"I am sorry."

Across the table Ruby eyes blinked slowly at him. "I have been in your company less than half an hour, Lyrius. What could you possibly have to apologise for?"

Lyrius's eyes darted uncomfortably across the bar to the nearest exit. It was dismally far away. Cutting to the chase was his forte, not testing the waters, but Dracula was not just a foe he had met across the battlefield, and she deserved what sensitivity he could give. "When last we met…"

"Ah. That." The vampire clicked her tongue. "You made a made a mess of my castle."

"I had orders." He insisted, but the words felt small and feeble.

"Of course you did," Dracula shrugged. "And you've followed orders your entire life - even at great personal risk. Why would you stop now? At the end of the day, I'm just another face. Another life to snuff out. Inconsequential really."

"That is not fair," he did not mean to be sharp, but the words were cutting deep and he was compelled to respond in kind. "You were - _are_ \- of great consequence to me, Dracula."

The vampire's laugh was empty, and Lyrius kicked himself for his obvious correction.

"There's only one life that is of any consequence to you Lyrius, and it's certainly not mine. It's not even yours."

He did not have the courage to look her in the eye and deny it, so he simply stared at the napkin in his lap.

"I know you, songbird," in spite of the pet name, Dracula's voice was shrewd and critical. "I know your priorities." She held out a hand before her, level with the table. "It goes _Me."_ She raised her hand an inch. "And then _Your Orders._ "

Hurt, Lyrius flinched. "That is not true-"

"Really?" the vampire gave him another look. "You've spent your life taking orders - from the Shadow Queen, from St Cuthbert. You're loyal to those causes. They give you a sense of purpose that you need to have in your life. Left on your own, you have nothing. No goals. No desire to function." She gave a dry laugh. "I would have been foolish to expect you to abandon your security and betray your cause just for me - I already figured out my place in this pecking order a long time ago."

"Is that why you have come here?" his voice was defensive, but Lyrius could not help but feel hurt - such a crude evaluation was painful. "To chide me for being a mindless weapon?"

"I won't deny I'm taking some pleasure from telling you all your faults to your face," Dracula admitted. "But I'm chiefly here out of concern for you, songbird. My sources tell me that you have left St Cuthbert." He did not need to answer - her penetrating gaze saw the truth of the statement immediately. "As I said, you do not do well without orders or a cause, Lyrius. And I know that beneath _Orders_ and _Me_ , your regard for your own life is somewhere down here."

Her hand dropped from it's level position all the way down to the floor, and he suddenly found that he was too tired to argue with her. Instead he sat back in his seat heavily, watching her face take in every nuance of his expression and mannerisms. She had always been able to read him - make him feel vulnerable.

"You are right," He admitted and cursed himself for how paltry the words felt in his mouth. He hated this - hated when all he had were mealy words that didn't anything but fill the space between people with noise. But there wasn't any action he could take that could help right now. Only keep speaking the truth. "But...I am trying to get better. To be better."

"How?" Dracula was not sarcastic or disbelieving. Just doubtful in the manner of someone struggling to understand how it could possibly be the case. "Have you found a new cause to follow? A new hobby, like chasing down Reaping Trees?"

"No. I still want to save Iris. I must do that, for my own sake as much as hers. But after…" Lyrius stared down at his interlaced hands on the table. "I've been convinced by a friend that having a life after that, no matter what it may be, is something I am capable and deserving of."

Her face was unreadable still, but Lyrius knew her enough to notice the shift in her mood that indicated her surprise. "You? With a friend? And just who might this outstanding warrior be to rate you taking their counsel so highly?"

"Her name is Serenity and she is a doctor. A human doctor." He added at her light eyebrow raise. "She has been taking care of me since I washed up on Satellite. And has helped me regain my standing, however unsteady I may be."

"I see. She must be quite the miracle worker or possess exceptional luck to get through that stubborn purposeful blindness of yours. So then, what is your next step?" The vampire asked. "What do you intend to do?"

"At the moment? We want to go to Las Vegas to participate in a tournament there. We have hopes that intense dueling will help me unlock more of the dragon cards I possess."

Dracula lifted an eyebrow. "And that is all? Your being involved with Castiel here and the Reaping Trees are not your intent?"

"My involvement in them is a cause of circumstance, not my willful desire." Lyrius said.

"Funny at how despite you never wanting to, you always get involved in these things." Dracula mused with a knowing smile. "But that is part of what makes you such an interesting man, my songbird."

She stood with purpose. "Very well. Since I have taken such an effort to find you and given your history of antagonizing beings like Castiel into trying to kill you, it is a lovely thing to have all of my goals and desires dovetail together. I shall be happy to take you and your companion to Vegas and help you in your efforts."

The vampire read right through his narrowed eyes and continued before he open his mouth. "And you shall be happy to accept, Lyrius. I know how gracious you can be, but please save it for tonight. As much as I am concerned, that is rapidly dwindling in the face of my annoyance with the sun." She held up the ruined remnants of what had once been a parasol. "And that talkative Shadowchaser has yet to reimburse me for damages rendered."

Lyrius eyed the damaged item. "It was Voltaire and Baskerville, was it not?"

"Yes. How did you know?"

"It is _always_ Voltaire."

"I do believe my ears are burning," a delighted voice interrupted. Lyrius saw Dracula's eyes dart heavenward as though praying for patience as Voltaire materialised at the table with Serenity on his arm. For some reason, the sight made Lyrius's eye twitch. "What delightful stories were you sharing about me, Lyra? I promise you," he turned to Dracula briefly. "They're all true."

"Ah, so you're a doom-magnet with a penchant for outdated clothing and sleeping with anything willing to try and shut his mouth?" Dracula's tone was amused and dry, and she was clearly a little taken aback when Voltaire chuckled and bowed his head.

"My lady, you could not have summed me up more accurately!"

He snapped a finger at a nearby waiter as Serenity settled into the vacant chair between Lyrius and Dracula. Though she offered him a smile, Lyrius was not blind to the way her eyes darted nervously to the vampire, clearly trying to get the measure of her in that unobtrusive way that all doctors perfected over years of trying to ferret out a diagnosis. "How are you?" she asked, concern lacing her voice.

"I am well. Dracula is an old friend." He reassured her. "What happened to Eilistraee? Did Voltaire arrive and his incessant questionings about her religion and how they feel about one-night stands chase her away?"

"I only did that once, you little minx!" Voltaire protested, but both Serenity and Lyrius ignored him.

"She...disappeared," Serenity's words were hesitant as though she still could not quite believe she was saying it. "Not much of a goodbye...she did call you stubborn, though." She added with a small smile.

"Eilistraee?" Dracula leaned forward in her seat, and Serenity felt uncomfortably pushed aside as the vampire tried to insert herself back into the conversation. "What was she doing here?"

For the first time in her life, Serenity felt the hairs stand on her neck, and a cold chill of malice permeate her right down to the bone. She had never experienced it before but she knew what it was - Dracula's words were curious on the surface, but the vampire's sudden killing intent was unmistakable, as was the apparent jealousy that had spiked it. It was nothing like the warm blanket of darkness that accompanied Lyrius's displays of power - this made her feel unnerved.

"She's expressed an interest in me over the last few years due to a…past connection. She says it is out of her genuine concern, but she has been warning me of a power rising in Arcadia and then that someone is targeting me, manipulating things to put me in danger." Lyrius' tone contained more than a fair share of annoyance at this statement. "So far, all she seems comfortable in just showing up and talking."

Dracula gave an irritated huff and the murderous intent died down somewhat. "Oh good. Heaven forbid she be at all vague about this."

In spite of her words, there was a perturbed look on the vampire's face, and Lyrius could see Serenity studying her closely. Glancing around at the occupants of the table, one by one, he felt a sudden urge to melt into the nearest shadow and reappear at the bottom of the ocean.

"I don't believe we've been introduced," Serenity's voice and smile were polite as she addressed Dracula. "Dr Serenity Wheeler."

"Ah, a pleasure. I am the Lady Dracula." Dracula nodded back to her. "It is not often I see a human entangling themselves with someone like Lyrius. It is rather dangerous." Her eyes darted over Serenity, alighting on the necklace around her neck. She lifted an eyebrow ever-so-slightly, flicking a look over at Lyrius who just nodded once. "I praise your compassion for helping such a stubborn man."

To Lyrius's surprise, Serenity exchanged a quick look with Voltaire, and the two of them grinned at each other, clearly sharing some sort of private realisation. Just what had they been discussing while he had been with Dracula. He should have known better than to leave them alone together, and he felt the urge to disappear into the sea rear it's head even further.

"Thank you - I like hearing praise at my age," Serenity sat back in her seat as the waiter approached their table with their drinks. "So how do you two know each other?"

Her question was innocent enough, but Lyrius swore he saw something else beneath her curiosity. His neck went hot at Dracula smirked before answering.

"I am a former lover to Lyrius, presently his friend and for the future, hopefully one of the individuals around that will be able to knock some sense into him and getting back to good health." The vampire reeled off without an ounce of discomfort. Lyrius on the other hand, felt the discomfort claw deep into his stomach, particular as Voltaire laughed.

"Told you!" he grinned at Serenity. "No riding Baskerville naked for me!"

Serenity let out an 'awww' of disappointment. Confused and mortified, Lyrius gave Voltiare a look.

"You needed a reason to make an exhibition of yourself? Astonishing." He drawled. For some reason that eluded him, Voltaire only laughed harder. Accepting her drink, Serenity cleared her throat before continuing.

"So you say you're sticking around?" she asked politely.

"I am. I have been looking for my dear songbird for the last two years. It would be foolish of me to just walk away now." Dracula said.

"Dracula has offered us free passage on her ship to the United States," Lyrius explained. "And has agreed to accompany us onward to Las Vegas."

"Really?" Serenity looked curiously in Dracula's direction. "That's generous of you."

"I have more money than I know what to do with and Vegas is very agreeable to those who live the night life. And with Lyrius, something interesting is bound to happen." The vampire chuckled. "After a fashion."

"Hmm…" Serenity nodded, sipping at her drink casually. Lyrius got the impression that the two women were involved in some kind of mental battle which he could neither see or perceive the outcome.

He could not get very far on speculating as a new, icy presence swept over the group - almost literally so. They all turned to see an irate Frenchman in a white suit storming towards him.

"Ah, Jean-Claude!" Voltaire greeted with a raise of his glass. "You'll happy to hear that I-"

"I'll be happy to hear that you're paying for the damages your pet caused." One could almost see the frost coating the CEO's snappish words. He held up several large strips of mangled leather by a handle.

"Oh my. What is that?"

"It _was_ an Elvish leather briefcase that was a gift! Now it is nothing." Jean-Claude pointed behind himself. "Thanks to your dog!"

Voltaire peered behind the man, watching as Baskerville came padding up the path, a big doggy grin on his face as he chewed on a few strips of leather dangling from his mouth. "Um...bad dog, Baskerville. Bad."

Jean-Claude was not placated by the token attempt and as he zeroed in on Voltaire, Serenity felt a different kind of icy tingle run down her back; fingers of a spectral hand stroking her spine. She'd heard that news companies could be cutthroat, but enough so that Jean-Claude needed killing intent?

"Perhaps you should go supervise The Reaping Tree and see to it is not disturbed?" Lyrius suggested with only a minor attempt at hiding his smirk. "And take Baskerville?"

"Oh, yes, that sounds like a lovely idea!"

OOO

The Reaping Tree looked no worse for the wear despite a vampire being thrown through it. As Lyrius stepped into the chamber housing it, he could see the crystal trunk regrowing in little spurts of light that would resolve into crystal - either to start extend into branches or to patch cracks in the trunk.

"It's like its alive, you know." Voltaire was seated on a fold out deckchair cross-legged, casting occasional glances at the source of the days drama. Somewhere along the line he had traded in his home and lifestyle magazine for a gardening book. "The wounds are scabbing over…"

"Reaping Trees feed on souls and magic to encourage their growth and every fiber of its existence holds some of it. As long as the tap root remains, it will constantly regrow and heal." Lyrius watched as with a dark creaking noise, razor-sharp branches stretched themselves out towards the rocky ceiling. One touched the stone, almost slithering into a thin crack like a snake. "And seek out new sources of nourishment."

"With this island filled with World War II dead and dark magic from Pegasus, I imagine it'll have food for a long time to come. But Rayearth says she has a potential method of purifying the spirits still trapped here. Once we've deprived it of its food source, we'll get to work on destroying the remains." Voltaire flicked a glance at his one-time lover. "How did you and Iris destroy the ones you found?"

"Physical destruction seemed to work best, then using magical flames to melt the pieces. At least the ones that had started to produce fruit. For the ones that were more established, that were enslaving animals, they were nearly impossible to destroy with conventional means between their regeneration and their small armies of nature."

"So what was the solution you arrived at?"

Lyrius picked up a shard of the tree and held it between thumb and forefinger. Voltaire winced as crystal began to pull darkness from Lyrius' fingers, but after a few moments of this the crystal began to darken into an ugly black. Then with a disturbing hiss, it fell apart into fragments that dissolved away before they hit the floor. "Oversaturation with a dark magic. The tree takes in nearly all magic, but it cannot seem to process some of them."

"We'll have to keep that in mind, though that's kind of rare we lawbringers." Voltaire said, his professional tone warming to something softer. "Come to say goodbye for now, have you?"

"Yes. Serenity is getting settled onboard the yacht. We have a long few days ahead of us, some of them cold - I want to be sure that she is comfortable before we set off."

A delighted smile crossed Voltaire's face as he removed his glasses and tucked them into his book to mark his spot. "So you're heading out to sea with the missus and the ex. Are you nervous?"

Lyrius blinked at him slowly. "Not at all. You are my ex and you and Serenity got on very well."

"Well that's because I'm extremely likeable." A frown crossed Voltaire's face as Lyrius's lips twitched. "Stop smirking, Lyra! I am! Dracula on the other hand is…aggressive in her attentions. She has already made her feelings towards you exceptionally clear."

Lyrius felt a curious sensation brush over the back of his neck. "I had the strangest sensation earlier at dinner. That those two women together would mean nothing good...and a wish that I could be far away beneath the waves when it happens."

A tender look crossed the Shadowchaser's face. "You are precious, Lyra."

"And you are...likeable. In your own strange, maddenning way." As Voltaire got up from his seat and stretched, Lyrius felt awkwardness steal over him like a heavy blanket. He had dated the man for many months, and yet he could not find the words he wanted. Mind you, that difficulty was not limited to Voltaire. "...I will miss you _Couplet_."

He took a small amount of delight in watching Voltaire blush and squirm at the use of his old pet name. "Your life will be far more peaceful without me, I'm sure." He said, attempting to brush the embarrassment away. Lyrius caught himself smiling.

"True. But I will confess, everything is more...exciting, with you around." They both chuckled. Behind them, the tree pulsed gently sending a soft glow over their surroundings, and Lyrius found himself remembering just why he had liked Voltaire in the first place.

"Don't drop off the grid again?" There was a gentle plea to Voltaire's request. "If you need anything, please call me. Before anything else, I would see you safe and happy again."

"I will." And Lyrius realised that he would.

A part of him was relieved when Voltaire was the one to take the few steps forward and initiate the hug. Tucking his face into his neck, Lyrius relaxed into it, thoughts of happier times mixed with something more profound. As Voltaire gave a gentle hum in the back of his throat, he wondered if he was thinking the same.

"Take care of Serenity, won't you?" the Shadowchaser said as they broke apart. "She is a precious soul, as well as duelling icon."

"She will be safe in my care, my friend." Lyrius promised. "And I in hers, no doubt. She is good for me."

"You can say that again." Pulling his chair around, Voltaire settled back to his vigil. "Now, be off with you. I'd better get back to earning my paycheck - I seem to owe a lot of very expensive people money…"

Smiling, Lyrius took one last look around the tunnel - at the tree with life beating gently inside it, and at the man sitting cross legged in the deckchair with his gardening book - before heading for the stairs back to the castle.

TTTTTTT

 _A/N:_ _Well, we finally got off Duelist Kingdom and Lyrius and Serenity start on the next leg of their journey. But Sin City isn't the only place where dark things stir and the terrible trio of Fusioh, Weevil and Castiel move forwards with their own plans on Duelist Academy - maybe they'll actually learn something. Whether they like it or not!_

 _Meanwhile, Serenity learns more about vampires, Dracula and Lyrius and Lyrius takes the first step into becoming what he once was._

 _Next Chapter: An Education of Blood, Lust and Cards_


	14. Education In Blood, Lust and Cards

Kintsugi  
By 7th Librarian

 _A/N:_ _Oh my freaking god, this chapter took forever! There was so much stuff in it that I had to break it into three chapters and this one is still thirty six pages long!_

 _So don't worry, part two of this will_ _be coming_ _shortly, as a lot of it_ _is written_ _already._

 _As an aside, this_ _chapter really should have_ _been titled_ _'Serenity has ALL the feels.'._

 _Also note that three characters who appear in this chapter are shout-outs to Seeker of the Soul's Rising Stars To The Heavens fanfic. It may not have been updated in over a decade, but it was one of the first YGO fics to get me into writing fanfiction and I couldn't pass up this chance to pay tribute and thank in my own way! Seeker, if you ever read this, thank you for writing such an enjoyable story! And please, go check it out if you have the time and love duels with lots of unique cards!_

Chapter 14: Education in Blood, Lust and Cards

Lyrius had suspected from the start that these two women together would not add up well for him, and he had been right. Unfortunately, when he had done this depressing arithmetic, he had made a simple and catastrophic error.

There were three women in his life now, not two.

"Resonae! Release Dracula this instant!"

His overprotective pony, who had seized the vampire's arm in her teeth and was now attempting to fling her over the side of the yacht, glared at him fiercely.

( _I do not approve of the latest addition to our herd_ ) she retorted through a mouthful of vampire flesh.

"We are not a herd, she is just providing transportation." Lyrius said firmly.

"I think that someone is a little jealous." Dracula, for her part, didn't seem bothered by the fangs sinking into her arm and only acknowledged Resonae's efforts by maintaining a solid grip on the railing with her free hand.

( _Jealous? I am not the one sniffing around other people's mates!_ ) Resonae all but snarled. ( _I see the way you look at him, vampire. My master already has a_ _perfectly_ _fine specimen to bear him foals - he does not need a second!_ ) She paused to glare at Lyrius. ( _And you should not be encouraging her! The metal human is strong, willful and feeds me cake. You are_ _extremely_ _fortunate to have claimed her!)_

"Resonae - you are a Nightmare and a herd matron. You have sired many foals, each with different stallions. You should be encouraging me to have multiple mates." Lyrius watched Resonae's ears fold back in displeasure at his logic, but she just tightened her grip on Dracula's arm. "Just because Dracula is a vampire does not mean she is in direct competition for your food or your belly rubs."

( _Her species has nothing to do with it!_ ) the pony exclaimed. ( _It is her attitude that is at fault here!_ )

"My attitude?" Dracula's eyebrows lifted behind her red-tinted lenses. "I'm sorry - am I not bloodthirsty enough?"

 _(No, you are too brazen_ ) Resonae declared, giving a particularly hard yank on her prize in the hopes that it might tear free of Dracula's shoulder. ( _Waltzing in as if you have some_ _sort of_ _claim on him. You are far too familiar._ )

"Are you sure you're not a guard dog magicked into a pony?" Dracula released her grip on the railing, using that hand to try to pry the Nightmare's jaw from her.

 _(Guard dog!? I will feast on your bones, blood-drinker!)_ Resonae growled and pressed forwards, trying to use her greater weight and mass to leverage the vampire over the railing.

"Resonae!" Lyrius snapped in warning, but the Nightmare didn't listen and Dracula's face narrowed, barring her own fangs as a dangerous creaking noise came from her arm. "Enough!"

"Oh, come off it, songbird." Dracula's voice was darker now, bloodlust rising. Behind her glasses, her eyes were becoming more animalistic. "If she wants to fight me to see whose top bitch, I don't care at all."

"I care." Lyrius stepped forwards, letting some malice bleed into his body and posture. His hair rippled into a single flowing mass of darkness. "Resonae! _ENOUGH!"_

The Nightmare caught his expression out of the corner of her eye and after a petulant moment of growling at Dracula, released her arm and backed off a few steps. _(Yes, Master…)_

" _That's_ the songbird I remember. Singing of lust and violence intertwined…" The vampire chuckled, lifting her arm to examine the wound she had been dealt. "So some of your old self still remains…"

Lyrius was saved from commenting as the sound of footsteps came clattering from below deck and a head of greying red hair poked itself free. "What on earth is going on up here? Is Lyrius trying to murder some - oh my god!"

She shot past Lyrius with a surprising amount of speed for an elderly woman, grabbing Dracula's hand and extending her arm. Lyrius watched as her alarm melted into confusion as she examined the limb. Resonae's fangs had torn six large gashes through the top of Dracula's flesh and six on the bottom, including two particularly deep sets from her front teeth which had exposed the bone beneath. It was clear to all that both main arteries had been severed, along with the radial nerve, and yet Dracula had not screamed once, or bled much beyond the initial puncture. Lyrius saw the doctor's face drop into astonishment as she realised that beneath the skin, the ripped muscles were slowly knitting their way back together.

"Being a vampire has advantages." Dracula said, a smirk appearing on her face at Serenity's astonishment. "Being the ruler of them all has better advantages."

Not letting go of the limb, Serenity peered closer. Lyrius could see her professional curiosity rearing its head. "The enhanced cellular regrowth I get. I mean, Lyrius does the same, just not as quickly. That's just a biological process which is being accelerated by using magic as an energy source instead. But how does that translate to not feeling pain? She tore right through the biggest nerve in your arm! Does magic numb you?"

"No, I feel it. But I am an undead. What would be crippling agony for a human is not for me. And I am very used to pain. Being killed in some of the worst ways a species can devise does that to a woman." Dracula said, watching with amusement as Serenity studied her arm. "Any other medical questions, my dear doctor?"

Blinking, Serenity gently released her. "...maybe. Give me a few hours to make a list." Frowning at the teeth marks, she rounded on Lyrius's disgruntled mount. "Resonae, why on earth did you bite her?!"

( _Defending your honour_ ) laying down beside the railing, the pony was clearly sulking. Serenity seemed to understand instantly and rubbed her forehead.

"Okay, I appreciate you being protective of me, but I am a grown woman, and I can defend my own honour. Okay?" She folded her arms. Lyrius was surprised to see how chastised the Nightmare looked at being told off by the human, and Resonae's only response was to flick her head in acknowledgement. Apparently satisfied, Serenity gave her nose a soothing rub.

Dracula sidled up to Lyrius, a smirk playing on her lips. "You tamed a Nightmare - that is no mean feat. And your doctor friend is far more than she seems for just being a human. Just what have you been up to these last two years?"

"Wandering. And thinking."

"The first you need to do less of and the latter you must do more of." Dracula gestured into her yacht's cabin. "Let's leave your pony to sulk and have us a talk. Not to mention get out of this sun - I can feel myself becoming quite crispy."

The cabin's interior reflected everything Lyrius knew about Dracula as a vampire and a woman - it was all hardwood with sleek metal trimmings, a plush carpet and comfortable chairs. And, he noted, her usual constant that filled all her homes. "I see you are ignoring maritime safety in favor of having a wood-burning fireplace that could destroy the ship with just a spark."

"You know full well that it is a magical flame. It is no danger to us." Dracula seated him in one of the squishy chairs and then wandered over to the bar, scanning over the many bottles therein. "Do you still drink mead?"

"Yes, but I would prefer bloodwine if you have it."

"Vampires make bloodwine. I would be remiss if I did not." She produced a long slender bottle and three crystal glasses. Returning to the table, she popped the cork and poured for herself and Lyrius. "Why not mead?"

"Your kind of mead will leave me slightly intoxicated. And I will need all of my wits about me to survive this journey." Lyrius said, a petulant grumbling noise from his Nightmare and something chiding from Serenity punctuating his remark.

"You are knowledgeable and wise, Lyrius, but did you really think that bringing your ex, your fake-wife and your pony-mistress into one location was a good idea?" Dracula was still smirking.

Lyrius became very interested in watching her pour the wine and tried not to wince as she laughed. "Oh dear. You did, didn't you?"

"Voltaire warned me," his defence was weak to his own ears as he accepted the glass. "I assumed he was exaggerating."

"My dear, how long have you known me?" Dracula asked. "I will test your companions to ensure they are capable, regardless of who they are."

He lifted his head. "You goaded Resonae?"

"It was not that hard, given how she has been eyeing me up since she came aboard. One predator does not easily beget another after all. Moreover, by taking the measure of your pony mistress and your doctor, I can get a good measure of you."

"You could simply talk to me." Lyrius noted. "Ask questions."

"Have you really slept with the pony yet?" Dracula's smirk remained as Lyrius' eyebrow rose. "Do not look at me like that. She is another sentient, just a different species. And unicorns _can_ shape-shift."

"Resonae is my partner and companion, but not sexually." Lyrius retorted. "And that was a cheap attempt to throw me off my guard."

"Just getting it out of the way. What about the doctor?"

Unbidden, thoughts of the previous evening's dreams flashed across Lyrius's mind, and he felt his cheeks colour. "That's none of your business, Dracula."

"So you have," the vampire's grin showed fangs now, and Lyrius found himself wondering if Resonae had had a point.

"It is not that simple," he stared into his glass, making no efforts to drink. "Our situation is...complicated."

"It must be, given you gave her Iris' necklace, and all that comes with that trinket." Dracula watched his tiny flinch of a reaction - barely a twitch of one of his eyebrows. "Did that backfire on you already?"

"There is more magic in the necklace than the spells that were placed on it. Iris' shadow magic is there as well, and she has...been acclimated to it." Lyrius admitted. "I am not sure how to handle it."

"Teach her about it and have her learn. If it is shadow magic, standard methods will not work. It will be a lot of trial-and-error. Fortunately, you have a capable mentor with you." Dracula smiled with her fangs. "It is a two-week journey to America. Plenty of time to make gains in that area."

Surprise flitted over Lyrius' face, but was quickly replaced by wariness. "You are not usually so forward with kindness. Why now?"

"I said before, I am here out of concern for you. And as I know you are loyal to a fault, you will not simply abandon the woman now that she's become entangled in the mess that is your life. You feel responsible for that. As such, it is a beneficial thing to train and teach so she is capable of standing alongside you instead of cowering in your shadow like a weak-willed maiden." Dracula took a drink from her glass.

Lyrius glanced down at his own glass and in his reflection in the red wine. "You keep mentioning that...that you are concerned for me, that you miss me. Yet last we saw each other, I tried to kill you. Why do you still care?"

"For the same reason I broke up with you in the first place. You miss Iris. I thought I could fix that - fix you. Repair the damage she had left to your heart. But that was never going to happen. You would be the perfect mate for me, songbird, but I would never be perfect enough for you. And since I cannot beat or threaten Iris into leaving you alone, I let you go." She took another, longer drink of her wine. "And I have regretted it ever since."

Lyrius watched her for a moment, surprised at the anger and sadness warring in him. "If I was a perfect mate, I shouldn't have needed fixing."

Dracula stared back at him, then sat back in her chair and her cool, controlled expression melted away into annoyance and hurt. Though if it was at him or herself, Lyrius wasn't sure. "I never said my feelings made sense."

The door slid back enough for Serenity to peer through with a tentative knock. "Resonae is sleeping."

"Good. Sea travel always makes her irritable. And she has been stressing about not being there when Castiel attacked us. Rest should do her some good." Lyrius motioned for Serenity to join them, noting how relieved the doctor seemed to get out of the chill.

"Not that I approve of her chomping down on your arm," Serenity disclaimed as she sat down. "But she did a fair amount of damage, and she seems to have far more energy than she did back in Japan. I think being out here is good for her."

"She has improved thanks to your care." Lyrius corrected and Serenity blushed a little. "Our adventures before Satellite were harrowing, but she is recovering much faster than I could help her on my own."

"Is that why you aren't using her to fast-travel to America?" Dracula asked. Seeing Serenity's confusion, she continued. "Nightmares possess the ability to open gateways to and from the Astral Plane. It allows them to traverse halfway across the planet in a matter of a few hours. But it requires a great amount of energy on their part."

Serenity soaked this in and then turned towards Lyrius. "Is that how you got to Satellite in the first place? Resonae hauled you both out of the surf on the beach!"

Lyrius nodded. "Resonae expended her energy trying to get us there, and we wound up a few miles off of shore."

The doctor stared at him and then glanced around the room quickly. Not finding what she was looking for, she growled and slugged Lyrius in the arm with her metal fist. "You jackass! Why the hell would you do that when you were both wounded like that!? I thought for sure you'd both be dead in the hours after I found you! And the water from Satellite is like a bubonic plague! You're both lucky you didn't get a massive infection!"

"All thanks to the expert care of our lovely doctor." Lyrius said and got another punch in the arm. "Excuse you!? That was a compliment."

"Oh, don't try to use flattery to cover up your stubborn stupidness and your hero syndrome, Lyrius!" Serenity grumbled and, upon noticing her glass was empty, held it out to Dracula. "May I?"

"Certainly. One must always keep a well-stocked wineglass around when dealing with Lyrius on a long-term basis." Dracula said and poured Serenity a glass. "But I warn you, this is vampire bloodwine and its effects on a mortal are not going to be-"

She was cut off as Serenity threw back her head and downed the entire glass in a few gulps. The doctor straightened, her expression emotionless until she shivered and gasped a bit. "Ooh, that's got a kick like a mule!"

She held out her glass. "Refill, please?"

The vampire gawked, and Lyrius found himself chuckling.

"Somewhere in Europe, Rex is extremely proud, Serenity."

TTTTTTT

"Why the hell am I Slifer Red!?" Weevil's outraged shout echoed about the small forest clearing, scattering a few stray birds who had thought they were safe from the strange individuals milling about.

"It was the only uniform we could steal that was in your size without attracting attention. The Slifer Red dorm has very terrible security." Fushioh's placating words weren't having the desired effect as Weevil snarled under his breath and turned to slash a branch off with a stringer. The lich sighed. "You're developing quite the temper, you know that?"

" _You_ got Ra Yellow and _he-_ " Weevil pointed at Castiel, who was hiding under the thick shade of another tree. "- got Obelisk Blue!"

The vampire smiled, smoothing out the creases of his blue-and-white tailcoat. "It's not my fault, little bug, that you didn't get mind-control powers with your devolution there."

"At least I can walk around outside without becoming a living torch!" Weevil grunted back.

"Excuse me." Both Weevil and Castiel winced as Fushioh snapped his fingers, the noise an unholy firecracker of brittle bone. "If you two are going to bicker, go back to the ocean and let the fish deal with it. I'm here to achieve a status beyond the straight man to the comic relief."

"And what's that? Walk around as a skeleton dressed in a school uniform and become an internet meme about how studying for finals is killer?" Weevil sneered.

Fushioh chuckled, the noise a dry rattle. "Okay, that was clever! But no, that is hardly my intent. Ever heard of a glamour?" The lich held out one of his hands, revealing that a gemstone ring had replaced the first knuckle of his ring finger. He twisted it and rattled something that wasn't human and then, in his place, was a youthful looking teenager with dark purple hair. "Now that's taken care of, I am going to go find the Reaping Tree."

"Any idea where to look? Island's a big place." Weevil grunted, jerking his head at Castiel. "And what about fang face here?"

"That is already taken care of. I've placed a very strong sun-blocking spell on Castiel, though every second he's in sunlight, it burns away, so do try to stick to dark places and buildings." Fushioh waited for the vampire to nod and then pointed a distance into the woods. "As for the tree, let's start with the Abandoned Dorm. The Reaping Trees need places where souls and magic happened and I'd say the place where an entire dorm worth of teenagers were offered to Darkness is a good place to start."

TTTTTT

Serenity had the strangest sensation that she was watching two predators.

Both Lyrius and Dracula sat on the couch, sipping from their glasses, speaking casually about recent news and gossip. Lyrius had one arm thrown over the back of the cushions, and Dracula had curled both of her feet up underneath her. But Serenity did not buy their relaxed poses for a second. Lyrius had the same guarded expression that she had seen many times before when he was in a social situation that he really did not want to be in. And she had no trouble believing that Dracula could spring into action at a moment's notice. Not curled but coiled, ready to strike.

Their relationship intrigued her. They seemed very amicable for exes, and yet Lyrius had mentioned before that the last time he and Dracula had spoken he had demolished her home. Voltaire had implied that Lyrius never spoke of his relationship with the vampire which usually meant that he had something to hide.

Looking at Dracula, she wondered if what he was hiding was the vampire herself. Serenity had been around her for less than a day and she already felt unnerved. Castiel had been open and blunt about his wants and needs, his intentions - confident and hungry. But Dracula was a different story. The woman was casual and calm, almost uncaring of the potential dangers around her. But the more Serenity watched her, the more she found herself comparing Dracula to a snake camouflaged in the jungle she seen in her trips to Malaysia. You never saw it strike until it was already over and the snake was away looking for its next meal.

Her shadow magic, almost ever present as breathing to her now, shifted beneath its calm surface in her heart. Wary and threatened. For a moment, Serenity let herself be drawn into that idea, that Dracula was going to be like Castiel and she should lash out now, spear the vampire's face on a bolt of magic and-

"Serenity?" Lyrius' voice pulled her out of her daydream and the doctor blinked, clearing the haze in her mind. "You were trying to strangle your chair."

Serenity frowned, glancing down to see that her metal fingers had gouged tears into the chair's fabric and even the frame underneath. Mortification flooded her, coloring her cheeks, and she raised her good hand to her mouth. "Oh, I am so sorry! I didn't mean to ruin it!"

Dracula shrugged. "I do not care. It is replaceable, and it is only a chair. Just an object." She smiled knowingly, eyes watching Serenity over the tops of her half-moon glasses. "Besides, I enjoy watching you humans squirm in my presence for the first time. It's like a movie I never get tired of. The shortness of breath, the wide eyes, death grips - I can practically hear your heartbeat speed up once panic sets it."

Now Serenity's cheeks were flushing for a different reason. "I was not afraid of you!"

"True, not entirely. Though you were looking for an opening to attack me from." The vampire sipped her wine, eyes settling on the necklace around Serenity's neck. "Not too unlike that jewelry's original owner. She, too, preferred to attack perceived threats than shirk from them. I always liked that about her…"

"You knew Iris?" The question was out before Serenity could stop herself and she instantly shot Lyrius an apologetic look. But he didn't seem to notice, just watching Dracula with care.

"Back when she and my songbird were setting up her empire, we clashed on many occasions. Lyrius even defeated one of my Grand Generals in personal combat as nothing more than a mere human. I was quite angry at him and even tried to get him assassinated. Alas, if I had known what a talented lover he was, I would have recruited him instead. And his Queen."

"Iris would have never stopped plotting against you. Or attempting to seduce you to working under her." Lyrius said, taking a drink from his glass. "You both would have been dead in a month."

Dracula snorted, laughing so hard Serenity thought she saw wine spurt from the vampire's nose. "That is far too generous an estimate, Lyrius! We wouldn't have lasted the day! Not that death has ever really stopped me…"

She wiped at her face with a napkin, gaze turning to Serenity again. "I apologize, doctor. We old folk seem to be dominating the conversation with nothing but stories of times long since past. Quite rude of us as I'm sure you must be brimming with questions and curiosity to satisfy."

Serenity giggled a little at the realization that despite nearly being seventy, she _was_ the youngest person in the room. "It's fine, really. I like learning about things like this. Just talking to you both shows that humans have missed out a huge amount of their own history! There are things I'd love to know the Shadowkind perspective on, like the Magna Carta or Edison's use of electricity. And then there's all the history I don't know, like the Empire of Shadow from Lyrius or the war with the vampires in the Victorian age! I.."

The doctor wilted a bit as Dracula's smile remained, but the vampire's gaze turned a bit cold. _Way to go, Serenity! You can't seem to open your mouth without putting both feet into it today!_

Lyrius, to his credit, picked up on the tension before either of them could speak again. "She has a right to know, Dracula. Castiel was born from the ashes of that war and he is her step-brother. If we're going to talk about history, it best be about something that is common to all three of us. Misery, as they say, loves company."

Dracula was silent for a minute, the huffed and leaned back against the corner of the couch. "Curse you and your fool practicality, songbird. I would have been much happier glaring the poor human into jelly!"

"Don't be rude. Or cruel. It is beneath you."

"Nothing good is beneath me these days." Dracula huffed again and swirled her wine, staring into its murky depths before addressing Serenity again. "Do you know why the vampires and humans went to war, doctor?"

"Just what Lyrius told me. That a vampire noble felt he and his clan could live openly among their human neighbors and did something to part the Veil so they could. And the humans couldn't take it and then the war happened."

"As true an accounting as your likely to find. Humans, in small groups, may have been fine living with vampires, but the majority found this idea a perfect excuse to hate on something they didn't understand and kill it to satisfy their self-righteousness. Not that I am pinning the blame solely on humanity," Dracula added." Because many other species of Shadowkind helped the humans because they had grudges against us, and too many vampires felt that because we were out in the open now, we should _rule_ openly."

"I understand. I've never been in a war where one side was right and the other was wrong. All it does it bring out the best of the worst in people. We always want someone to claim victory over, but the truth is, everyone loses in a war." Serenity said in a soft tone, memories experiences in field hospitals and front medic combat dancing through her head.

"Well-spoken. But in this particular war, we vampires definitely lost. Our armies were shattered, our holdings were stripped away and many of us were killed or destroyed. There was no safe refuge, and it is not an exaggeration to say that there were less than one hundred vampires remaining at the war's end." Dracula's tone turned bitter. "But of course, culture demanded those survivors seek immediate revenge rather than learn from the mistakes that led them there."

"Culture?" Serenity leaned forwards, elbows on her knees in interest. "What is vampire culture like? Why would it demand revenge? Is it an honor thing?"

"Vampire culture isn't like human cultures, that change and alter over time and as people meet and exchange ideas." Lyrius said. "Vampire culture has been rather uniform and static over the last few hundred years and it is mostly geared towards protecting what is yours and proving your superiority and status through wealth, possessions and so on."

"Vampire culture was high school?" Again, Serenity chided her inability to help herself, but it went better this time - Dracula actually chuckled.

"Not wholly correct, but a good comparison. We vampires do tend to cling to things and having lost so much in the war, the survivors could not even begin to grasp the idea of simply licking our wounds and healing. They had to have their revenge, their justice and would spend decades planning it out. All of them drunk on memories of their past glory and power."

Serenity nodded - that seemed to fit with what little she did know about vampires. Lyrius had told her long-lived Shadowkind species had a tendency to hold grudges that lasted the length of a single human life. "So how does Ryan come into all this? This war was in the Victorian era. He's only been a vampire for about forty years."

"That is the result of one of the survivors, one Lord Everett Appolex. I had taken it upon myself to curb the survivor's plans and _cull_ the more stupid ones from our ranks before I set about rebuilding my race for the hundredth time. Everett, after being foiled and beaten so many times, became a wandering vagabond, skulking about and living off of foolhardy humans that crossed his path." Dracula stared into her wine again. "Your brother crossed that path and for whatever reasons, Everett decided to make him a vampire instead of killing him."

"Ryan was a good talker. He knew how to make people believe things, how they wanted to hear them." Serenity said. "If Everett was desperate or needing blood or whatever, then I don't doubt Ryan could persuade him to make him a vampire in exchange for helping him."

A memory flashed in her mind - of her crying and screaming and the crunching of bone every time her Duel Disk came down with blood everywhere. "But I killed Ryan. I broke his skull open - he had to have a closed casket funeral. You can't become a vampire if you're already read, right?"

"Odds are that Ryan was already a vampire before then - we can survive most any wound barring the most severe and lethal with enough blood. Or what you dueled was some kind of homunculus pretending to be him." Dracula suggested. "Both are easy enough to do."

"But why does Castiel want to rebuild your race so fervently he would use the Orichalcos to do so?" Lyrius asked. "It is his driving passion - nary an encounter I had with him went by without him delivering a speech."

Serenity gave him a surprised look, and he shrugged. "I didn't know he was your brother at the time, otherwise I would have mentioned it before."

Dracula was staring into her wineglass again, then she downed it. "This is hard to explain because neither of you are vampires yourselves. However, Castiel's fervent desire to see our race reborn as rulers and lords of the earth stems from our inherent belief in our superiority."

"You have never been egotistical before, _harlot_." Lyrius' voice was light and teasing, he and Dracula sharing a quick smile that left Serenity both confused at being out of the loop and something dark in her growling in jealous frustration. "Just rightfully confident."

"Flatterer." Dracula's expression became serious again. "But I am not talking about ego or arrogance, my songbird. What I'm talking about is an inherent, key part of my species'. We believe on a primal level in our own innate power above all else."

"That…" Serenity's brow furrowed. "Sounds cartoony. Like the bad guy always going on about how much better he is, and it's his god-given right to oppressive people and stuff. And an entire species believing that innately when it not fed to them through culture and education and lifestyle? I'm pretty sure there's a trope for that…"

"It is very real, human." Dracula's words suggested she had had this conversation before and come out on top. "You see, when someone becomes a vampire, they undergo a major psychological shift as a result of their innate fear of death being removed."

Now Serenity was disbelieving. "You're making that up. You can die, your species is nearly gone. How could you _not_ be afraid of death?"

"I'll clarify. We fear dying, because we can be killed as any other living being, yes. But we do not fear _death_. We are eternal, human. All things in this world succumb to death, whether by age or degradation or time, but we do not." Dracula's eyes flashed behind her glasses. " _We endure."_

There was a creeping feeling of dread crawling down Serenity's spine as the words sunk in. She'd seen what humans were capable of when they thought themselves invincible and immortal and the results had never been good. But an entire species with that mentality and ability to make _good_ on it…

"Castiel, when he was human, detested human weakness and pain and presumably the fear of his own death most of all. So when he became a vampire that hatred grew and ignited the passion to restore what he sees as the superior race to its rightful position." Lyrius summarized with a grimace. "But that doesn't explain his obsession with raising someone from the dead. If they were weak enough to die why would he put so much effort into bringing them back?"

Dracula held up a slender finger to get his attention and when she had it, pointed it squarely at Serenity.

The redhead blinked in surprise, then shook her head quickly. "Oh, no, no, no, no! Castiel didn't want me back from the dead, he wanted my soul! And that was because I have shadow magic!"

"It is another facet of vampire psyche, that in not having our fear of death, we seek things that will endure alongside us. Mostly in the form of power over others - the longer we hold that, the greater proof of our superiority. Many vampires, in fact go through several obsessions over their lives once they find things that will last into eternity with them." Dracula said knowingly. "Your brother's obsession is you."

"What, why? He thought I was dead until a day ago!"

"He probably felt alone and isolated because of his desires to hurt animals or cause pain and you were the first to not only accept that, but _embrace_ it, too. You accepted him, all that he was, good and bad. The idea of losing that connection, of no longer having someone to share it with, must have been very painful for him." Lyrius was quiet, his eyes distant. "In his worst moments, thoughts of you must make him happy. And he probably feels that it would the greatest gift to you if he could make you eternal like him so you could share in your passion forever."

Serenity squirmed, her chair suddenly very uncomfortable, and she found she couldn't bear to look at Lyrius. There was hurt and there was truth in his voice and she refused, _refused_ to accept the fact there was a small part of her that admitted he was right. "I am NOT like Ryan! I will never be like him! Ever!"

"Then are you prepared to kill him again?" Dracula asked in a sharp tone that yanked Serenity's gaze off of her lap. "He will not stop coming now that he knows you are alive and can see behind the Veil. He wants his little sister back and he will not stop until she is killed."

Serenity couldn't find any words to give a response, her heart warring and wavering between screaming that she was going to kill Castiel because it was the right thing to do and wailing that he was her brother and she couldn't kill him again, not without becoming worse than he was and couldn't Lyrius or Dracula herself do it and-

If it showed on her face, Dracula didn't seem to take notice. "If you want to avoid whatever it is he has planned for you, then I suggest you master your shadow magic and become this 'Doctor Death' moniker in full. I will be happy to teach you on our way to Vegas."

Serenity gawked, uncertain what to make of the bold declaration from the vampire and then the tension seemed to vanish as Dracula clapped her hands and sat up with an eager smile.

"Lyrius!" She smiled and leaned forwards on all fours to cross the couch to him. "I do so hate to impose, but it has been a terribly long time since I have fed properly and so-"

"So you want to drink my blood." Lyrius said with an exasperated sigh. "I was hoping you could at least wait…"

"I have been waiting for two years. I don't like the idea of waiting another two. And I can't drink the doctor or the Nightmare, they're too weak and need it."

"You have plenty of blood stocked about the ship. Drink that."

"It's not as good as fresh stuff. And not as delicious as yours." Dracula cupped his face, her expression soft and tempting. "I promise not to take much...and…" Her other hand danced along his thigh, fingers spelling out a promise. "I'll make it up to you."

Lyrius held out his wrist and rolled up his sleeve. "There."

A dark, petulant pout. "That is not where I want it and you know it."

"I am not having you drink from my neck in front of company." Lyrius shifted, eyes darting nervously to Serenity. "It is too...intimate."

"Nonsense. Human fiction has it from the neck all the time. And I'm sure the doctor would love to see how feeding works firsthand."

Serenity's good hand darted up to her own neck, rubbing at the spot where her brother's fangs had pierced her neck. She remembered the stunned fear, the weird gulping sensation and painless feel of the fangs in her skin. The _eagerness_ at which Castiel had drank, knowing even then that she was his step-sister and how her skin crawled even now at that realization.

And, she realized as something dark quivered in her core, how sensual the feeling had been and that there had been no pain. No pain at all, just a dark bliss of wanting to give and being taken from…

Dracula's ruby eyes glittered knowingly at Serenity's pause and lack of response. "I see. Castiel fed on you. Well, that was wrong of him, both on principle and because you are family. I'll make sure to punish him for that transgression. And as ruler of all vampires, I am honor-bound to make up for such an act." The vampire's lips parted in a dark smile, her fangs just visible. "A good feeding is an act of respect and care, an exchange of life. Not thievery or greed."

That dark thing inside Serenity trembled again, and she felt her magic ripple like it had before. But not in reaction to danger or anger, but...want? Need? Desire? Dracula was _enticing_ her magic? "No, I'm just observing. And I'm two parts metal, not a lot of spare in me…"

"It is not a crime to admit you liked it. Or that you want more." Dracula's soft murmur reached across the cabin between them, even though she was cuddling up to Lyrius. Silver hair fell over her shoulders and shrouded both of their faces, but somehow, those crimson eyes were visible. "It is an exchange of life, a good thing, not a sin at all."

"But you're drinking blood…" Serenity took a breath and let it, relaxing as she did. She could feel that pull, but now she recognized it as the magic, not her or Dracula. She liked dark things, Dracula was very dark, and the magic was simply trying to help her make that connection.

"You've seen creepier and weirder things as a doctor, I'm sure."

"Nothing could be as weird as you, Dracula." Lyrius said, pulling the top two buttons of his shirt free in a resigned fashion. "You go out of your way to make everyone around you uncomfortable."

"This, from the man who has so far dated an evil queen, a dandy and quite possibly his pony."

"Resonae and I tried to kill each other. That is not a 'date'."

"Oh? Then what do you call our second night out?" Dracula laughed as his frustrated pout. "Exactly. Now, relax, my songbird. I won't take more than a mouthful or two."

"You have a big mouth, Dracula."

"Hush." The vampire cupped his cheek and tilted his head, shifting so Serenity could see clearly. "We usually bite for the jugular, fiction has that right, but our saliva and magic ensures no one bleeds out. In fact, you probably didn't see it on your own wounds, but they'll start healing the moment I take my fangs out."

"I...see…" The doctor portion of Serenity was actually indeed very curious about how vampire feeding worked. But the rest of her, the rest of her was rippling with an emotion she wasn't sure where it was coming from. Spikes of hurt and jealousy and want pierced through her heart as she watched Dracula slide a finger over Lyrius' neck, her nail scoring a tiny thin red line.

The vampire chuckled, a possessive, dark look flashing behind her lenses and then she bared her fangs. "Sing some passion for me, my songbird?"

As she descended, fangs sinking into Lyrius' neck and Serenity heard him give of a slight gasp in pitch she'd never thought she'd hear him use, the spikes erupted into a tidal wave that dashed her heart to pieces.

That only left Doctor Death and Serenity was halfway across the cabin, magic coiling and arcing between her fingers as she prepared to rip the vampire off of Lyrius and show her some real blood before she realized what she was preparing to do.

Serenity blinked, eyes blurring as she realized tears were forming in the corner. She stood there, suddenly feeling very hollow before she bolted out of the cabin and away from the feelings she wasn't supposed to be having.

TTTTTT

"I didn't know you could pick a lock so quickly, Weevil." Fushioh commented as the trio pushed their way through the doorway into the abandoned dorm. A burned out husk of its former glory, it felt oddly comforting to the three of them. "You continue to surprise me with the skills you have."

"It's not that surprising, Fushioh. Like any bug, he just always wants to make sure he has an escape route if he needs it." Castiel commented with a curt smile at Weevil's growling response. "Well, now that we're in here, where do we start?"

"The basement." The lich said. "The ritual they did was performed there and it would be where the concentration of dark energy would be the strongest. If you were going to plant a Reaping Tree, it'd be there."

The three of them started for the basement, careful to mind their steps. Age on top of the fire that had gutted the building had left it weak and groaning in the slightest wind, with the floorboards creaking in protest and Castiel took a tumble down the stairs when the railing simply became dust under his grip.

Weevil could feel his feather-like hair bristling and the geoglyph tattooed into his body began to ache dully. "This place feels worse than Satellite - it's putting me on edge!"

"Darkness is an entity unlike any other from beyond this plane of existence. You stole power from the Earthbound Immortals, so there's bound to be some friction between the two sets of dark magic." Fushioh said. "And a great tragedy did take place here - all of those souls, lost to the ether before they even had time to comprehend what was going on...not even a moment to cry out or fight back…"

"Don't tell me you're going soft on me, Fushioh." Castiel drawled as they descended, a bobbing light leading the way in front of the vampire. "They're just humans."

"No, no, just waxing poetic." Fushioh reassured him. "You know humans - they're a dime a dozen. The only thing I'm 'soft' about is the wasted potential that was here. All this effort and lives given, for a student to get a dark mask and to lose his memory. Gives new meaning to the phrase 'one step forwards, two steps back'."

"Humans are short-sighted in their goals, seeking immediate power and results as opposed to exercising patience and crafting a plan that is more likely to succeed. They reveal their animal nature in that way," Castiel sneered. "Believing themselves to be above the food chain when really they're just another rung on the ladder."

"There is that." Fushioh 'hummed' in agreement. "But their raw, transformative potential - that is nothing to scoff at. They have the wherewithal to build cities in straight defiance of nature's whims and argue with the very God that created them on principle, not to mention they can learn and do so much. Nearly every school of magic and technology, even travel to the stars…."

"They burn that so-called 'potential' away with careless abandon, too focused on insipid temporary pleasures and mindless entertainment." The vampire countered. "Humans are just another animal, lich, unable to see beyond satisfying their own wants and needs."

There was a snorting giggle and both of them peered back over their shoulders to see Weevil sniggering. Noticing they were looking at him, he just cracked a twisted grin. "You two talk smack about humanity, but you were both humans at one time, weren't you? You're a walking blood-sack and a pile of bones and neither of those exist without people. You had to be a human first before you could become your so-called 'superior' shit."

The two undead beings stopped and exchanged looks, Fushioh being the first to speak. "He's got a point."

"First time he's said anything with one." Castiel retorted. "And it's not even very good."

"What?" Weevil growled, his good mood dropping away. "I'm right, though! Both of you were human before you became what you were!"

"So? We aren't anymore. We discarded our 'humanity' because we decided it was holding us back and making us weak. Lack of power, death by old age, fragility and more. No sane being with a desire for true power would ever tolerate such easily-apparent flaws." The vampire said. "To us, being a human was just a long and annoying step on the path to evolution."

"You evolved into what? Look at both of you! You're hiding from Shadowchasers, from Lyrius, from whatever else and that's all human, isn't it? For superior beings, you are afraid of what you're dismissing!" Weevil jerked a thumb at his chest. "Hell, I'm a human and I've got power that puts me on par with both of you!"

"Humanity as a whole is something to be concerned about, just like any other pack animal. And a smart predator doesn't attack the whole herd just to prove his point." Fushioh informed him. "And do you really think you're still human, Weevil?"

Weevil blinked, his confusion magnified by his oversized glasses. "Uhhh…."

"You absorbed a Duel Spirit, transformed by a Reaping Tree who had taken in the power of a dead god and so on and so forth." The lich tapped Weevil's forehead. "Can you really take all of that into yourself and not be changed by it? Not transcend your human limitations?"

"I still need to eat and breath and sleep and everything - pretty sure any being has to do that unless they want to be a member of the six-feet-under club!"

"Of course any living animal must do that. Even Castiel has to drink blood and I must consume souls to retain my lichdom. So all those traits do is make us alive in some fashion. What I'm asking, Weevil, is what makes you a 'human' in your eyes. I'd start with your weaknesses and flaws," Fushioh added in a helpful tone with a smile. "You human have so many of those. And it's good character growth to overcome them."

Weevil was silent for a moment, pondering all of this. "What happens if I stop being human? Do I get an attitude like the vampire or a free book on grade school philosophy like you, bones?"

"What happens when you stop…" Fushioh started, his false face looking rather surprised before he laughed. Weevil growled and a stinger extended along with his glare, but the lich waved a dismissive hand. "No, no, it's not at you, Weevil. I just thought the answer would be obvious, though I forgot that Castiel and I - we had goals in mind when we shed humanity. But you clearly don't want to be a vampire or a lich."

"Not on your life!"

"Then, Weevil, I think the answer to your question is that when you stop being human, you'll be whatever it is you want yourself to be. And I, for one, look forwards to seeing that. You have great potential and your human existence could never let you see it all." Fushioh was smiling and gave Weevil a thumbs-up. "So go for it, I say! Be the best you that you can be!"

A cricket chirped from nearby as Castiel lifted an eyebrow and Weevil gave him a blank stare.

Fushioh's face fell. "Was that too much? It was too much, wasn't it?" He glared at his thumb like it had betrayed him. "Curses and spite, no matter how much media I consume, I can never get this inspiring speech thing right!"

He stomped off, his skeleton rattling with each step. Still cringing, Weevil turned to Castiel. "...that was…"

"...embarrassing," the vampire nodded. "I'm only relieved that no one else was around to hear it."

He turned to go after Fushioh, then stopped and turned back to Weevil. "Take some free advice. Those dreams you want - becoming the strongest duelist, killing Lyrius, taking women, power, wealth and stuff? You can achieve those things without being a human. After all, if the human spent the last five plus decades of his life in miserable losing streak and being stepped on, it's clearly not working out for you."

Weevil arched an eyebrow. "And what would you know about any of that? I thought you've been a vampire like forever and a day!"

"Because I was a human once. And I remember what it's like to be held back by that." An image of Serenity, youthful and glaring at him with bloody tears in her eyes, flashed in his mind. "And to see others succumb to that weakness."

The vampire shrugged and walked away. "Or you can stay a failure forever, Weevil. You're the only one making that choice."

Weevil stared after him, scratching his cheek. "...and here I thought he was just an asshole."

"Keeping up and being useful _aren't_ your choices, Weevil! Get a move on or I'm leaving you for the ghosts!"

TTTTTT

Resonae was warm and smelt of sea salt and a farmyard in high summer. The last time Serenity had been on a boat, the scent had soothed her through her panic attack, accompanied by long gentle licks from the Nightmare's tongue. She knew that none of that was working this time - not in the least because tonight Resonae's breath smelt like blood.

Dracula's blood.

The memory of the vampire's fangs sliding into Lyrius's neck, followed by the sound of that gasp, haunted her. Even knowing that it was consensual, and in no way a reflection of her own experience, did not stop the rush she had felt to protect Lyrius in that moment. But deeper than that, she was furious with Dracula. For asking him in the first place, when Lyrius had said she had her own supply ( _fresh sources are better_ be damned), and for doing it so brazenly - who did she think she was? And what the hell was she trying to prove, openly throwing herself over Lyrius like that? As though she had any sort of right to him.

 _This is crazy,_ she thought. _I have no right to him either, and no right to be acting this way. Lyrius does not belong to me._

 _ **Is there any reason**_ _ **why**_ _ **he shouldn't?**_ It was that contralto she'd heard in the caverns - still distant, but still prickling her mind that she'd heard it before.

 _He's...Lyrius. And he comes with an airport's worth of baggage. All of it labeled 'Iris'. I'm not even on his radar._

 _ **He hasn't ever shoved you away when you wanted him. And you saw his dream - Iris turned into you. He has feelings for you even if they're only just budding ones.**_

Hard to argue with that proof. But Serenity was going to do it, anyway. _I'm not even sure I have feelings for him. I'm old and lonely and the only people I've been with_ _recently_ _are Lyrius and his exes and I'm just feeling possessive because I_ _don't have anyone_ _to be with myself._

 _ **But you want to be with him.**_

 _I'm_ _overly_ _attached because he's the first outside contact I've had in twenty years that hasn't tried to kill me, he explained all this magic shit_ _to me_ _so I don't feel crazy and he's a delicious looking man. That's all. If I have_ _feeling_ _s_ _for him, they're just temporary._

 _ **Why don't you want to have feelings for him? Why is that wrong?**_

That gave Serenity pause, and she stared into the dusky black-blue of Resonae's fur as she stroked it. _I shouldn't have them...he wants Iris…_

 _ **And he wanted Voltaire and Dracula and who else knows. Even if their relationships didn't last, they**_ _ **were happy**_ _ **with him. Don't you deserve happiness, too?**_

 _I...I...I'_ _m afraid_ _to_ _be happy_ _. What if I do get him? And he leaves me too?_ _I_ _'m so old...and tired...and…_ Serenity stared at the wrinkled fingers threading into Resonae's coat. _I_ _don't want my last years of life being nothing but being miserable and heartbroken._ _I_ _'ve been 'dead' for twenty years._ _I_ _don't want anymore false hope._

There was a snort and the impression of a smile. _**You know him, everyone has said his loyalty is his defining trait. He has already expressed attraction to you. He would love you with everything, give you everything you want.**_

Pain panged at Serenity's heart as she curled metal fingers into a fist, Resonae's ears twitching at the very faint whir of gears and metal. _And what do I give him? I'm almost seventy. I have so little energy, I require actual maintenance, I_ _don't know anything_ _about the modern world, I'm blind to the Veil and he's got enemies. All I will give him is dead weight!_

An image of Dracula flashed in her mind and she sighed, burying her face in Resonae's side. _The immortal ruler of vampires is just like him. Ethereal, powerful, beautiful and passionate. No wonder he's her obsession…_

 _ **But you could be his. You have power now.**_ The necklace seemed to press into her skin, the ruby cold against the hollow of her throat. _**It's making you younger, stronger. You can feel it every time you wake up. The magic makes you more than you are, sets you free. Free to be strong, free to love him as you want to**_ _ **be loved**_ _ **…**_

 _I don't want to be another Castiel! Or an Iris!_ Serenity snapped back, but there wasn't much force behind it.

 _ **You**_ _ **felt your soul shake when Dracula wanted his blood.**_ _ **You**_ _ **were jealous**_ _ **, yes, but also hungry.**_ _ **You**_ _ **wanted Dracula to drink from you, you wanted to drink from Lyrius.**_ _ **You**_ _ **know you would be better than Castiel - Lyrius would keep you in check, he would curb your edges and you would give him strength as he pledged his heart to you…**_

 _That power makes me do crazy things! I want to hurt people!_

 _ **They both said they'd teach you all about the darkness. They would stare into the very pits of your soul and**_ _ **be enraptured**_ _ **by the monster you think lives there. Embrace your power. Embrace who you have every right to be. Be strong…**_

"I don't want to be strong anymore! Shut up!" Serenity rolled off of Resonae, breathing hard and staring up at the ship's ceiling. The light was almost blinding, and she shielded her face, wincing in pain. There was shuffling nearby, and she felt a slightly damp, rather-concerned unicorn nose nuzzling her hair.

But the voice was silent.

Had it even existed? It had felt so familiar, maybe she was just finally going crazy and talking to herself. She'd heard that smirk in its tone...it had felt like she'd been talking to Doctor Death. Was her disconnect with the dark part of herself so strong it was becoming a separate person? Or was that the only way she would let herself acknowledge it - that Doctor Serenity Wheeler could never be the bad girl who had hurt animals because she hated the world?

( _Metal Human?)_ Resonae was nosing her some more, a hoof sliding a plate at her. _(Are you okay? You may have some of my cookies - sugar helps humans feel better.)_

"Thank you, sweetie. But I'm not hungry. You don't have to share." Serenity stroked the Nightmare's snout, managing a small grin as the pony quickly snapped up two of the remaining cookies in a single bite.

But it quickly faded as her heavy thoughts came crashing down and all her strength seemed to leave her as she slumped back against her pony pillow. She _was_ tired of being strong and equally tired of being overwhelmed. Everything - Dracula, Lyrius, her brother, getting to Vegas, the past - was just too much to bear right now. Her head throbbed with a headache that told her she hadn't even the strength to cry.

She needed to vent.

But the only people around to vent to were Lyrius (not a good idea considering she was still debating if she had feelings or not), Dracula (that one was going to end up with a bloodbath - perhaps in a literal sense) and Resonae (who was sweet, but her 'law of the jungle' mentality probably didn't extend to complicated human dramas).

Serenity eyed a cell phone seated at the nightstand nearby. It was one Lyrius had purchased before they left Duelist Kingdom but before meeting Dracula. The vampire had enough resources to supply them with more modern phones when they got to America and so this one had fallen by the wayside to lament its never-fulfilled potential.

But maybe now it would. Serenity leaned forwards, reaching until her fingers scrapped the edge and yanked it down to her. Grabbing it, she slid it open - of course Lyrius would go for the phone that you had to flip or slide to open - and pressed the power button. Her face lit up a little as she saw it had a full charge and according to the counter in the corner, plenty of minutes.

The doctor hesitated for a long moment, warring with herself. What she was about to do wasn't psychologically healthy and while she hadn't done it years, she'd only broken the habit because the phone she had in Satellite had finally given up the ghost. But these were special circumstances and as any woman knows, the only person who can help you in special circumstances is your bestie.

She punched in a number she knew by heart and raised the phone to her ear.

 _"_ _Heya_ _,_ _hunny_ _-bunny, you've reached Mai Valentine. Can't talk, too busy being fabulous, but leave a message and I'll ring you right back to spice up your day with my gorgeous self!"_

Her heart both raced and sank at the achingly familiar voice. Of course she hadn't picked up - Serenity was not even sure if she still used this number. But that had always been the case, back when she had called it nearly every day just to hear her voice once more. The phone beeped, and Serenity licked her lips, resting her forehead on her knees. "Hey, Mai. I know it's been forever since I called, but...there's a lot going on and I really need someone to talk to…"

It was stupid. It was a voicemail, not a real person, and she could not even be sure that Mai would ever listen to this. But it was her only outlet now, and her breath hitched painfully in her chest. "Firstly...I just have to say this. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry I didn't believe you." Hot tears were welling up in her eyes. "Ever since I found out - about the monsters and vampires and everything - all I could think about was how I treated you. I mean, I thought I was doing the right thing," a sob escaped her throat. "But to you it must have looked like...like I was belittling you. You must have thought I was a terrible friend. I _feel_ like a terrible friend, Mai…" Her next words were choked in misery. "Joey would have been so disappointed in me."

She was acutely aware that Resonae was feigning sleep, but she found that she did not care. Now that the tears had started there was no stopping them.

"He'd _hate_ me, Mai. He never liked Ryan - I remember that. What would he think if he could see the things I've done? The kind of friend I was to you? You were all alone in that place. I was the only person you had. It was my job to take care of you. To do what he couldn't…"

The words were spilling out of her in a messy rush. She was not even sure that she was making sense, but still they slid out with no restraint or reason.

"I'd been keeping track of you. I showed Rex - all the stories I dug up, my map of where you'd been seen. And after I found out, I promised myself that as soon as I got off Satellite I'd find you and tell you that. But now…" She pressed her fingers into her temple. "Things keep happening Mai. Horrible things. And they're all my fault. I'm the one who's doing them. Me and this power I've got. The same power that made me want to pull the heads off squirrels when I was a kid...and I can't stop it. Part of me wants it so badly, but I _can't_ have it. I just can't. I can't be trusted with it. And if anything went wrong, there no way to help me. There's no parents, or Joey, or you, or therapists or any of my friends...there's just Lyrius, and I don't think he even knows how to help himself right now."

She hiccuped. "You were the coolest person I knew when I was growing up. Nobody told you what to do. You were so strong…" She swallowed hard, her voice breaking again. "I wish you were here. I feel like...like I don't have any strength left."

There wasn't any response.

Not that she was expecting any.

Serenity curled tighter into herself and felt tears rain free of her lashes to plop at her shirt.

Her fingers curled around the phone so tight they hurt, the plastic creaking with the strain.

"I miss you so much, Mai…" The words hurt coming out, thick and sharp enough that she had to squeeze them out alongside her sobs. "Help me…"

Silence.

She couldn't even hear Resonae's fake sleep breathing.

With a trembling finger, she cut the connection.

Serenity cried harder.

Resonae's hoof stroked her back tenderly. It was a surprising level of warm and almost reminded Serenity of a massage stone. The smooth strokes unknotted some pain in her back and she felt her tears waver, the pain receding like a wave.

The phone rang, a jaunty, peppy standard ringtone that drove most people to desperation to try and switch and left Serenity staring at the device like it was a bomb.

It kept ringing.

Her mouth dryer than she had ever felt it before, Serenity returned it to her ear and pressed the button. "Mai?"

TTTTTTTT

"Well, we searched this basement from top to bottom and found a lot of nothing." Castiel muttered, swiping some ash and debris from his uniform. "Anywhere else you want to go, Fushioh or should we just finish the job and demolish the place?"

"I was certain the tree would be here…" Fushioh murmured, stroking his chin again. "There's nowhere else in this building that would be big enough…"

"Maybe it's still a sapling. Or maybe someone else got to it first." Castiel said. "When I was getting the uniforms, the students mentioned how they dare each other to spend the night in this place."

"No, my source of information was quite insistent that a mature Reaping Tree was here and they haven't been wrong yet. The one on Satellite, Duelist Kingdom and before that, one in Great Britain… terrible mess getting to that one. Just...terrible…" Fushioh said, half to himself as he gazed about the room.

"Whoever your source is, they should include a map and directions instead of just saying 'go here!'" The vampire rolled his eyes and swore under his breath as Weevil brushed past him. "Will you stop with that stupid pacing, bug? It is not helping!"

"I can't help it!" Weevil paced over the length of the room again. "There's something here, I can feel! It's like bugs crawling all over my skin!"

"Hmmm?" Fushioh cocked his head at Weevil, watching the smaller man pace agitatedly. "Do you know where it's coming from?"

"Everywhere!" Weevil glanced around the room, eyes bulging behind his glasses as he scoured the room in the hopes of whatever was getting to him would pop out of the woodwork.

Castiel was watching Weevil and then with a flourish of his hand, produced an Orichalcos stone. He grabbed Weevil by the shoulder and whirled him around him. Weevil's angry protest was cut short as the vampire held up the stone and it began to glow with soft teal light. Weevil's eyes focused on the light for a brief moment and the vampire laughed. "It works just as well as a bug zapper. You really are an insect!"

"Shut it!" Weevil hissed and glared up at the taller being. "What are you doing, besides blinding me?"

"Helping you. You were about to have a panic attack about whatever it is your feeling. If you want to locate it, you need a clear space to focus in. Such as within Orichalcos magic." The vampire informed him, holding the stone aloft, so the glow spread a bit further. His words were proven true as Weevi's expression and sharp breathing calmed and his furtive glances stopped. "Now do something out of the ordinary for you and _think_ , Weevil. From which direction is this feeling calling for you?"

Weevil was quiet, turning in a circle to take the room in a second time. Once or twice, he paused and took a half-step in some random direction, but stopped and shook his head. When he had completed his circuit, he was scowling. Then Castiel took a step back as he unsheathed his stingers and began to attack the floor beneath with in a fury. "...Fushioh, your pet is broken."

"It's beneath us!" Weevil's frenzied digging sent arcs of dirt flying into the air and forcing the other two to find some cover. His stingers were completely sunk into the floor when there was a grating scrape noise and he crowed. "I told you!"

Fushioh and Castiel over, the vampire holding his Orichalcos stone aloft to provide better light. There, at the bottom of Weevil's impromptu hole and glimmering in the light, was the of-color crystal of a Reaping Tree.

"My, that is certainly new. If it grew underground, how did it have room to produce fruit?" Fushioh asked of no one in particular. "And who planted it? Did it grow down instead of up for some reason?"

"No, look…" Castiel scrapped away some more dirt, revealing the piece they were seeing was at least a foot wide and splintered off in a couple of different directions. "It's definitely coming up from farther down...probably to keep it from being discovered."

"I'm more interested in what we're going to do with it. I am _not_ digging up this entire basement." Weevil growled.

"Well, I think our best move is to…" Fushioh fell silent as a new, cool voice interrupted him.

"I think your best move is to explain what you three are doing here on Duelist Academy and how fast you can leave."

The three turned to see a trio of students, two Obelisk Blue and one Slifer Red, standing in the doorway to the room. The one in the front, dressed in a heavy blue coat, glasses and with white hair, looked the most serious. "You were right, Sanzo. You did sense trespassers."

"Now is that anyway to talk to your fellow students?" Fushioh said, holding up his hands. "You're trespassing on the Abandoned Dorm, too.."

"Don't bother, Fushioh. I know those students, I saw them on the leaderboards. They're the top ranked duelists on the island. Dark Kaiser Wilhelm Harrison The Third, Hero Saint Sanzo Uzumaki and Dark Hell Dragon Ensui Tatakawa." Castiel folded his arms. "And I can feel power emanating from them. They know we're not who we say we are."

"What you are is dangerous." Sanzo spoke up, his fingers flexing a bit. "I felt since the moment you all arrived here. No one on Duelist Academy is safe while you're around."

"Well, that includes you, now doesn't it?" Weevil snarled and readied his arms, one of his stingers starting to extend. Only to be stopped by Fushioh's hand on his wrist. "What gives?"

"A real fight will draw more attention than we want from our enemies; stealth is key to avoiding the Shadowchaser's attention and getting what we came for." Fushioh warned him in a low tone.

"Well, I suppose we should settle this like everything on Duel Academy." Castiel offered the three students a cold smile as he produced a Duel Disk. "I could always do with a few more souls."

"A Darkness Game?" Harrison sneered at the thought. "I am the Dark Kaiser of Duel Academy for a reason. Don't think a cheap parlor trick like that will give you an advantage!"

"You're just brimming with confidence, aren't you?" Castiel's smile didn't change as he drew his opening hand and the darkness around them rose to swallow them both up. "I'm going to enjoy ripping that confidence to shreds, boy!"

Weevil watched the darkness cloud form and flexed his fingers eagerly, the magic on his body lighting up as he called for the shadows himself. "'Hero Saint', huh? Big talk for someone who has no idea who he's dealing with, scrub! I'll show you the true terror of the darkness!"

"It's a hero's duty to stand against the darkness and whatever monsters that call it home!" Sanzo activated his disk, snapping up his opening hand of five cards. "I won't allow you to carry out your plans!"

"Ahhh, the energy and vitality of youth. I had forgotten how invigorating that could be." Fushioh said as the two Darkness Games finished forming and he turned to face off against his opponent. "Ensui, was it? The 'Dark Hell Dragon' of Duel Academy? Do you have anything suitable grandiose to say? I am looking forwards to see what kind of trash talk you teenagers favor!"

"Why should I tell you anything? The outcome is already certain - you lose!" Ensui said with a chuckle and pulled off his opening hand.

"Mmm...I've heard better, as far as threats go. But you are young though. A lack of showmanship can be excused." Fushioh drew his opening hand as well. "Pity that you won't be getting any older after this."

TTTTTT

The universe was laughing at her. Serenity was sure of it. After years of complete silence, Mai finally, _finally_ picked up the stupid phone, and all either of them could do was cry at each other. Resonae had finally ditched her pantomime sleeping and was instead passing tissue after tissue into Serenity's hands with her teeth.

"I missed you so much," she had said it several times already, but it was all that she could think of to say as tears and mucus were hastily blotted with tissues. Down the other end of the line, Mai hiccupped.

"I missed you too. I didn't think...I stopped checking this phone. You hadn't called in so long I assumed you were…"

"Satellite. Phone went dead. You know what it's like…" Serenity was not even sure she made sense any more. "Even when I had access to another I couldn't...I just couldn't keep doing that to myself. You never picked up…"

"I just couldn't 'Ren. Couldn't talk to anyone...I'm so sorry…"

"No, I'm sorry. I should have believed you. I'm so sorry…" She trailed off, both of them laughing and crying in messy, bittersweet relief.

"Are you safe?" Mai was practically gasping for breath, and Serenity understood. She hadn't cried this hard since she had been a teenager, and she had never seen Mai cry, not even the grips of her worst paranoia in Satellite.

"Yeah, I am. I just had to get everything out of my head, and you were the only one I could-" She stalled, heart hammering in her chest as the line gave a terrible crackle of static. "Mai?" _Don't let me lose her. Please not after all this time-_

"-ere, I'm still here!" The signal returned, fainter than before. Panic raced through Serenity's veins. She had not even considered how lucky she had been to get a signal out at sea in the first place. "'Ren are you sure you're safe? Who are you travelling with?"

She felt a strange hysteria building inside her, knocked hard with nostalgia as she realised that that was something that Joey would have asked. "I'm fine. I'm with a friend. I trust him." She felt like she was holding a bomb which might detonate at any second. "We're going to Vegas, Mai. We'll be there in eleven days so a week Thursday." Hell if refuelling in Hawaii wasn't a necessity, she would insist that Dracula skip it just to get there sooner. "Can you meet us there?"

Her entire body froze as she listened to the hitch of breath on the other end. Now she had done it, she kicked herself. She had frightened her off. What had she been thinking? She and Mai had been close once, but it had been fifteen years since then. She had no idea what the other woman had been doing, or where she was now. She might not even be capable of travelling any more - Mai had to be well into her seventies now. She just did not know.

She did not even know what she was thinking right now.

The realisation hit her like a tonne of bricks. Her best friend was practically a stranger now. _What would Joey think of me for letting this happen?_

"I don-" Another burst of static broke Mai's voice into fragments.

"Mai!" Serenity was sure she would have a heart attack before this conversation was over - her pulse was throbbing away in her neck.

"-we-" Crackle. "-think I can-" Bzzzz…. "-ity? Serenity?"

"I'm still here!" was she shouting? She honestly did not care. There was a knock at the door, and she was vaguely relieved when Resonae hauled herself to her feet.

( _Hold your horses!)_

"You don't want to see me, 'Ren," there was something in Mai's voice that took Serenity right back to that fateful night in Satellite. Fear. "I'm not the same…"

She shook her head again, turning her back on the door as Lyrius appeared, only to find his way impeded by his horse. "I don't care, Mai! I don't care if you're not the same - I'm not either! I just want to see you! After all these years, I just have to-"

CRACK! Hisss... _beep, beep, beep, beep-_

Serenity in disbelieving horror at the phone's betrayal, that steady beeping taunting her with every sound. Then her face twisted into an ugly look and her metal hand flexed, dark energy coruscating around the fingers as she crushed the phone into so much broken plastic and electronics.

There was a noise at the doorway and she lifted her head to give Lyrius the most venomous gaze she could muster as if his arrival had been the reason the connection had been lost. And he had the gall to just stand there, quiet and bland and so unassuming as to what he had just cost her-

"She isn't going to be able to call you back now." He said softly and watched all the anger fall from her face as horror poured into its place. Another sob racked Serenity, and she stared at the broken phone in her hand as if seeing it for the first time.

Lyrius reached over and pulled the dead phone from her. He held up a new one, and she stared at him with sorrowful confusion. "I bought two and cloned that one into this one. Just in case. No harm done."

Serenity nodded and reached for the replacement, then yanked her hand away before she touched it and shook her head. Lyrius set the phone aside and stepped around his Nightmare, wrapping her up in a strong embrace. "We'll find her, Serenity. You haven't done anything wrong or made a mistake or caused harm."

His face was pressing into her hair, voice low and warm. "This is a good thing, my friend. A _good_ thing. We'll find your friend so you can have closure, one way or another."

Serenity nodded into his chest, words failing her. She didn't want to cry anymore, her body ached from the deluge of tears already shed but she was too wired to think about resting. Lyrius stroked her greying red hair softly, other arm keeping her close.

She wasn't sure how long they stood there or how long she breathed in his scent of vanilla with closed eyes and wished, despite everything that had just happened, she had more than already did. The idea of being content with what she had refused to settle in her mind.

But exhaustion finally did, and she was only vaguely aware of Lyrius placing her on the bed and tucking her in. "Keep an eye on her, Resonae. If anything happens…"

 _(I'll kill the source, Master, and lay it at your feet as a trophy.)_

"Good girl."

Despite everything that had just happened, Serenity could help but smile at the preening noise the Nightmare made as she drifted off to sleep.

TTTTTT

"I'm first, scrub!" Weevil drew a sixth card, a dark sheen over his glasses magnifying the twisted grin he had. "Too bad for you! I've got this duel in the bag!"

He held up a card. "I activate One For One! I discard a monster from my hand and then I summon a level one monster from my deck! So here's Fusion Parasite!" He dropped a card into his graveyard, the dog-sized mottled parasite appearing front of him and flailing its tendrils. (0/0)

Weevil snickered at Sano's frown at his monster. "Don't worry, you won't have to look at him long! Fusion Parasite's effect activates when I special summon it, fusing it with a monster in my hand! I choose Anteatereatingant!" A human-sized ant lumbered out of the darkness, mandibles clicking while bits of fur and flesh dribbled free. "You'll have to excuse me, he lived up to his name on the way here!"

 _"Parasite of the magical world, feast upon the living magic of the Earth!"_ Parasite Fusion didn't wait for Sanzo to comment, it leapt up onto the giant ant's back and cracked the exoskeleton, plunging its tendrils it and sinking halfway into its body. The ant shuddered, then went still even as more cracks appeared on its exoskeleton. _"Fusion Summon! Level 7! Carrion Spell!"_

Sanzo watched it with a wary eye. _There's only one insect fusion in existence, so what is he trying to do with this parasite?_

He got his answer as the ant gave off a blood-curdling screaming noise and reared up on its last two legs. The abdomen gained pulsing lines of magic over it while gossamer wings shot free of the back to help keep it upright. Worst, though, was the head. For a moment, Sanzo thought it wasn't going to change - then it split in in four directions, mandibles and eyes spreading to revealing some kind of fang, pulsing dark maw for a mouth. (1600/1500)

"Kinda makes your skin crawl, doesn't it? But don't worry, my Carrion Spell doesn't eat flesh. Only magic." Weevil said with mocking reassurance as the creature screamed again. "I set one card face-down and end my turn!"

Sanzo reached for his deck. "Don't think that summoning monsters like that is going to even make me hesitate for a second! Heroes exist to fight creatures like that! Draw!"

He snapped up the card and flipped it around. "Let me show you a real fusion! I activate Polymerization!"

The spell card shimmered into existence in front of him, then Sanzo's eyes widened as it broke apart into fragments that were sucked into the whirling maw of Weevil's monster. "What did it just do?!"

"Carrion Spell eats the first spell or trap card that we activate each turn and each time it does, its power goes up by four hundred!" It's jaws clacking shut, the insect began to glow as its power rose. (1600-2000/1500-1900)

"That monster's ability is indeed troublesome, but not insurmountable! I discard Elemental Hero Captain Gold to add Skyscraper to my hand and then I'll activate it!" Sanzo discarded the monster, catching the card his deck spat out and slamming it into his disk. Around them, the darkness shifted and warped so that they were standing in the middle of a city street surrounded by towering pristine skyscrapers. "When an Elemental Hero attacks a stronger monster here, they gain one thousand attack points!"

Lightning struck Sanzo's field, resolving into a hero in a yellow-and-blue battle suit. He clenched his fists and punched one into the air, electricity sparking around. "Which means my Elemental Hero Sparkman has enough power to defeat your monster! Go! Static Shockwave!" (1600-2600/1400)

The hero punched the air, a burst of electricity arcing for Weevil's monster. He sneered and snapped out his hand. "Reverse card open! Rose Blizzard! Your attack is negated and Sparkman goes to defense mode!"

A flurry of rose petals shot out of the trap as it lifted, dispersing the electricity while Sparkman dropped to one knee.

"I set two cards face-down and end my turn!" The two cards appeared behind Sparkman, leaving Sanzo with only one in his hand. But judging from the set in his jaw, he wasn't worried.

"My move!" Weevil drew and slapped down a card, a human-sized cockroach wielding a double-bladed sword appeared. "I summon Roachie in attack mode and have my Carrion Spell attack your stupid hero!" (1300/1100)

Sanzo watched as the mutated ant's jaw split open, that whirling maw ready to devour Sparkman whole. "I activate one of my set cards! Hero Barrier! Your attack is negated!"

"Idiot! Carrion Spell works on both of our turns!" Weevil cackled as the trap card shattered and his monster sucked up the pieces. "All you've done is make him stronger!" (2000-2400/1900-2300)

"All I've done is made him waste his effect, because now I activate my real trap! The continuous trap Hero Armory!" The trap's picture showed a man descending stone steps into a cave, the foreground dominated by a dark bat-themed car and four costumes in display cases. "Once per turn, I can select an equip card from my deck and give it to an Elemental Hero!"

"So freaking what?" Weevil snapped his fingers and Carrion Spell shot forwards Sparkman again. "Spark Gun isn't going to do jack against my monster!"

"I never said it was Spark Gun." Sanzo smirked while Weevil's eyes widened as Sparkman was suddenly seated inside a massive, rocky-looking tank. Carrion Eater's jaw scrapped over the stone harmlessly. "This is Boulder Tank and when it equipped to one of my heroes, not only does it gain eight hundred points, it cannot be destroyed in battle once per turn!" (1600-2400)

"Tch, fine!" Weevil grunted and folded his arms. "End of turn!"

Sanzo drew and pointed at his trap card, which began to glow. "Through the effect of Hero Armory, I equip Sparkman with Avenging Wings!" Two feathered wings from Avian's costume unfurled from Sparkman's back. And were instantly plucked as Carrion Spell sucked them away like a vacuum cleaner. "But your monster destroys them…"

"So what was the point?"

"When Avenging Wings goes to the graveyard, I can summon out Elemental Hero Avian from any location!" A green-suited hero with expansive feathered wings on his costume dropped out of the sky, ready to fight. (1000/1000)

Sanzo pointed across the field. "Sparkman will attack your Carrion Spell and thanks to his equip, will not be destroyed!" The ground rumbled as the tank engine revved; Sparkman shot Carrion Spell a thumbs-down and then the fusion was crushed as the tank blasted over it. "And Avian will attack Roachie! _Feather Break!"_ (1000-2000)

Avian shot into the air and beat his wings, razor-sharp feathers raining down. Roachie managed to deflect or parry several but then he was overwhelmed and perforated before he blew apart into pixels while Weevil staggered from the damage. (WLP: 7300)

"When Roachie dies, I can summon a low level insect from my deck! I choose Block Spider in defense mode!" A cartoonish spider made of what appeared to Lego bricks appeared, waving cheerily at Sanzo. "And when he's special summoned, I can summon another one! And Block Spider's other ability says that you cannot attack an insect monster except him!" (0/100)

Sanzo frowned as a second lego spider alongside the first, the two of them now busy playing patty-cake with each other. _He's created an attack lock…_ "I end my turn."

"Draw!" Weevil snapped up the card, growling at the site of it. _I can't use Empress Infestation!_ "I pass!"

Sanzo drew. _This monster would be useful if it could attack…_ "Don't think you can cower behind your defenses! I activate the effect of my trap card and equip Avian with Burst Fire!" Flames erupted around Avian's form, dancing and flicking in an invisible wind. "This lets me deal three hundred damage for each Elemental Hero in play! Burst Fire!"

Avian beat his wings, feathers wafting over Weevil. Then the hero snapped his fingers, and they all exploded like firecrackers. Weevil yelped in surprised pain and shielded his face. "Jeezus, that stings…!" (WLP: 6700)

Sanzo watched as Weevil beat at some embers that that landed on his arm, a concern nestling in his brain. ' _That stings'? We're in a Darkness Game, that should do more than sting!_

"Draw!" Weevil growled louder this time. "Pass!"

Sanzo drew. "I can't break your lock just yet, but then, I don't have to! Not to beat you! E-Emergency Call lets me add an Elemental Hero from my deck to my hand and then I'll summon her! E-Hero Lady Heat!" FLames shot up from the ground, resolving into a fire-suited heroine whose hair was an actual fire. (1300/1000)

"Now! Avian will hit you with Burst Fire and I'll end my turn!"

Weevil swore as another wave of feathers washed over him only to explode. He swatted one of the air and glared at Sanzo. "You keep it up, hero boy and I'm gonna…"

There was the sound of something steaming.

Weevil glanced down just time to see the ground glow cherry-red and the explode with flames. (WLP: 6700-5800-5200)

"During my End Phase, Lady Heat deals you two hundred damage for each E-Hero I have!" Sanzo watched as damage effect ended, leaving wisps of smoke curling from the tips of his hair. _He still looks more annoyed than hurt. My danger sense keeps_ _warning_ _me_ _to have my guard up against him..._

"Okay, scrub, that tears it!" Weevil ripped the next card off of his deck with a snarl. "I'm going to smack you and those heroes into the ground! I sacrifice my two Block Spiders in order to summon Butterfly Queen Danaus!" The two spiders, now busy turning each other into towers, vanished and were replaced by a massive humanoid butterfly, who spread her great and colorful majestically. (2800/1900)

Weevil held out a hand and Danaus' colors began to drain away, leaving her lifeless. "But reducing her attack to zero, I can summon out three level four or lower bugs from my graveyard! So why not restore my attack lock and summon Fusion Parasite while I'm at it!"

The two lego spiders appeared as did the parasite and it was already glowing. "Fusion Parasite's ability activates! _Queen who brings dead life, transcend the reaper's threshold and steal the breath of life for your kingdom! Fusion Summon! Level 8!"_

The parasite jumped up and latched around Danaus' waist. The butterfly woman glanced down at it, then her limp wings curled around herself like a funeral shroud. Sounds of something hard cracking, followed by horrific slurping sounds and then a dry crunch. The wings began to ripple as tendrils grew underneath their surface and they parted like a curtain. Danus dangled, limp and dead, in the support from her wings. A satiny-like wing veiled her face, and the parasite was visible in her split-open chest cavity, pulsing like a heartbeat. "Deathmoth Empress Danaus!" (2800/1900)

"Your parasite lives up to its name in the worst way, destroying life just to sustain itself a little longer." Sanzo glared at the monster, his three heroes doing the same.

"It's still stronger than anything you have! Attack and destroy Avian! _Death Pollen Tornado!"_ The great wings of Danaus beat, kicking a whirlwind of black pollen up. Avian struggled against the winds, but the pollen ate away at his flesh and armor until he blew apart. (SLP: 6200)

"When Burst Fire goes to the graveyard, I can summon Burstinatrix!" A woman in a red bodysuit appeared, flames igniting in her hands. (1200/800)

"Set up all the heroes you like, my monsters will knock them down like dominoes!" Weevil sneered and slid two cards into his disk. "I set these face-down and end my turn."

"I draw!" Sanzo and snapped up the card. "I activate Polymerization and fuse Burstinatrix and Sparkman together to summon Elemental Hero Ignition Spark!" The two monsters were pulled together, resulting in Burstinatrix wearing a gold and red costume, flaming hair poking out from underneath her opaque helmet and sparks arcing over her gauntleted hands. (2200/1200)

"And since I sent Boulder Tank to the graveyard, I can summon Clayman in defense position!" A burly hero appeared, his bulky body barely allowing him room to kneel and cross his arms over his chest. (800/2000)

The Hero Duelist held up another card. "Miracle Fusion banishes Sparkman and Clayman to summon Elemental Hero Thunder Giant!" Clayman vanished and lightning struck the ground, exploding to reveal a massive hero who dwarfed both Sanzo and Ignition Spark, his chest glowing with trapped lightning. (2400/1500)

"What good does that do? It doesn't matter how powerful your heroes are." Weevil said with an annoyed snort. "My spiders keep you from attacking!"

"Thunder Giant lets me discard a card to destroy a monster whose attack is less than his own! _Vapor Spark!_ " The hero snapped out his hand, a burst of lightning from his palm shooting across the field to blast one of the spiders into ash and Weevil's eyes widened. "Now Ignition Spark attacks your Danus and since Skyscraper is still in play, she gains one thousand attack points!"

The hero snapped her fingers, sparks of lightning and fire gathering her palms. She slammed her hands together and fired the combined blast at the moth. "Take this! _Dry Lightning!_ " (2200-3200)

"Reverse cards open! DNA Surgery and Needlebug Nest! The latter sends the top five cards of my deck to the graveyard and the former makes all of our monsters insect-types!" Weevil dropped five cards off his deck with a smirk.

Sanzo watched as his monsters gained antennae and gossamer wings. "What good does that do you? It doesn't negate the attack!"

"I don't have to! In fact, I want it to go through! Because now my Deathmoth Empress can do her thing! _Necro Drain!_ " Weevil laughed as Danaus' body jerked and spasmed as Fusion Parasite made it move, silk erupting out of her fingers to scatter the oncoming attack and pierce into Ignition Spark's body in sprays of blood. "Danaus can reduce the attack of any insect on the field to summon any insect in my graveyard!"

"What!?" Sanzo watched as Ignition Spark dropped to her knees, blood being sucked away through the Danaus' strands. (2200-0)

"Rise up, Insect Queen!" Weevil thrust a hand into the air, the streets Skyscraper shaking as the titanic form his monster lumbered into view, her inhuman face screeching at the sight of the enemy while her girth very nearly filled the street. (2200-3000/2400)

Sanzo grimaced at the sight of the ugly monster. "I use the right of recall and call off Ignition Spark's attack and then use Hero Armory to equip her with Bubble Bazooka!" A blue bazooka with a massive water tank on the top fell out of the sky into Ignition Spark's arms, the weakened hero nearly collapsing under the new weight. "Then I set one card face-down, switch Lady Heat to defense mode and end my turn! Meaning she nails you for six hundred damage!"

Weevil swore as the ground erupted underneath him again, growling as he lowered his smoldering arms. "Don't think your cheap shots are going to save you now!" (WLP: 4600)

He drew and grabbed another card. "I activate Hidden Armory, sending the top card of my deck to my graveyard to add an equip spell to my hand! I can't normal summon, but I'm wasn't planning on it! Danaus' effect activates!"

Thunder Giant groaned as the silk strands lashed out, coiling around him and piercing his armored body with ease. The silk throbbed and blood began to travel along the strands while Roachie burst out of the ground on Weevil's field. (2400-0) (1300/1100)

"Your heroes are helpless before my power and now you will be, too! I equip Insect Queen with Pheremone Conversion! This card can only be equipped to her and now when she attacks, I can tribute your insects instead of my own!" Weevil cackled as Insect Queen screeched again, Lady Heat panicking as the huge monster arched over the field and tore her in half with a single bite. " _Queen's Lance!"_

Sanzo shielded his face with an arm as Thunder Giant was cored by a blast of green energy from the queen's mouth. A moment later, the fusion erupted in a fiery explosion and pelted Sanzo with fragments. "Thunder Giant!" (SLP: 3200)

"Your little firebug is next, hero-boy! Danaus attacks it! _Death Threads!"_ The fusion bug's fingers twitched rhythmically, Ignition Spark gasping weakly as the threads sliced her body into sections with ease. "So have some more damage!"

Sanzo smirked as a wall of bubbles rose up in front of him, shielding him from the flying pixels of his monster. "Bubble Bazooka negates any damage I receive from the battling monster and then summons Bubbleman from my deck! Then I draw one card!"

A blue-suited hero with a pair of water tanks on his back appeared, kneeling in defense mode. (800/1200)

"And when Ignition Spark is destroyed, one of her effect's activates! Since you killed her in battle, I can review two Elemental Heroes that in my graveyard or banished! But their powers are halved and they have to be normal monsters! Return, Sparkman and Avian!" The two heroes appeared alongside Bubbleman, both kneeling with their arms over their chests, cracks and tears all over their costumes. (1600-1400 - 800/700) (1000/1000-500/500)

"Tch, more weaklings for my monsters to feed one! Roachie, go kill that Megaman reject!" The roach warrior lunged across the playing field to slash Bubbleman into four neat pieces. "I end my turn! Let's see you get out of this one, hero!"

"Draw." Sanzo pulled the card from his deck, eyeing the two giant insects across the field with a worried expression. _Those two bugs_ _are more powerful_ _than any my normal heros and even if I summoned Edgeman, Danaus would just drain his attack the moment I tried._

He glanced at the drawn card, nodding to himself as a strategy began to pull itself together in his mind. "I activate Fusion Birth!"

"Huh? What's that?" Weevil cocked his head as Sanzo grabbed cards from his deck.

"This rare spell card lets me discard the top five cards from my deck to the graveyard and then, if I sent the components of a fusion monster to the graveyard, I can summon it!" Sanzo fanned out the five cards, his expression solidifying as what he saw before he shoved them all into the graveyard. "Among the cards I sent were Elemental Hero Necroshade and another Captain Gold! So now I can fusion summon Elemental Hero Diabolic Alloy!"

Molten gold and blood pooled up from the ground on his field, twining together into an armored humanoid figure with a skull mask over his face. He slammed his burly gauntlets together, ready to brawl. (2300/2000)

"So what good is he? My Danaus will suck him dry the moment he tries to attack! In fact, why wait?" Weevil pointed at the fusion fiercely. " _Necro Drain!"_

The threads lashed out, snaring Diabolic Alloy and straight-jacketing him. Weevil's grin faded, though, when the fusion growled and flexed, tearing through the silk like it was paper-mache. "What?"

"Diabolic Alloy is unaffected by monster effects and that's not all-," Sanzo caught a card as it was slid out of his graveyard. "Fusion Birth sent the monster known as Breakdown Breakdancer to my graveyard and I can banish it to add De-Fusion from my deck to my hand."

"So you're going to summon two more weaklings?" Weevil said with a sneer.

"I'm not the only one with a fusion in play, remember?" Sanzo slammed the card into his disk. "De-Fusion sends your Danaus back to the Extra Deck and I choose not to summon its materials!"

"Wait - what?" Weevil gawked in sudden fear as Danaus faded away into wisps of ether. "My monster!"

"And thanks to Necroshade's effect, I can normal summon Elemental Hero Bladedge without tribute!" Looming head and shoulders over the other heroes, Bladedge was made entirely out of gold and the jets on his arms flared as he readied to battle. (2600/1300)

"So what? One more bug means my Insect Queen gets stronger!" The Queen screeched in agreement. (3200)

"You're forgetting Skyscraper, which means Diabolic Alloy can destroy her in battle! Dethrone that Queen!" Sanzo frowned as Diabolic Alloy didn't move. "Why won't he attack?"

"Pheromone Conversion makes all of your insects treat her as their queen - they'll never dare overthrow her!" Weevil's laughter was a mix of relieved and mocking, but it faded at that the glint in Sanzo's eye. "What's with that look?"

"Is your Block Spider as lucky?" Sanzo grinned as Weevil's eyes widened. "Thought not- Edgeman! _Power Edge Attack!"_

The jets roared to life, rocketing Edgeman across the field and with two swipes of his arm-blades, the spider was so much shattering pixels. "And Edgemen deals piercing damage, so your life points aren't safe either, Weevil!"

Weevil howled as Edgeman slashed him across the chest in an 'x' before leaping back to Sanzo's field and leaving the insect duelist reeling. "You...you bastard…!" (WLP: 4600-2100)

"I told you, I won't let you or your companions have your way at Duel Academy!" Sanzo looked confident at his successful turn. "I end my turn!"

"I'll get you for that!" Weevil's dark words were a promise as he yanked his draw card free. "I activate Super Cocoon of Evolution, targeting my Insect Queen because she has an equip card!"

Sanzo watched as golden webbing and gunk sprouted out of Insect Queen, wrapping her up and concealing her in a giant golden cocoon. "What's it doing?"

"It's evolving her!" The cocoon began to shake and rock before a massive, spine-covered foreleg ripped free. Another soon followed and then two more, shredding the cocoon to reveal a larger, more dangerous version of Insect Queen. Spikes were everywhere, and she reared upright as she clashed two bladed arms together, more like a centaur than a bug. "Ultimately Mutated Insect Queen!" (2800/2400)

Sanzo felt his danger sense flare a warning at the sight of the monster, not that he needed it. The previous Insect Queen had been animalistic and predatory, this one had hostile intelligence in her eyes.

"She doesn't have the same attack boosting effect as the original, but she doesn't need it! First, I activate Arms Regeneration, letting me equip her with Pheromone Conversion from my graveyard!" The Queen's carapace began to gleam in the lights from Skyscraper. "Now, attack and destroy Edgeman! _Queen's Piercing Lance!_ "

Edgeman threw his arms up to defend himself, but it was no good as the bolt of green energy sliced through his golden body like it was butter. He exploded and Sanzo grit his teeth as the backlash hit. "That all you got?" (SLP: 3200-3000)

"As a matter of fact, no! My Queen can sacrifice another monster to attack again and thanks to Pheromone Conversion, I can tribute yours!" Weevil laughed wildly as his Queen skewered Sparkman on her arms and tore his head off in a single bite. She threw the shattering hero aside and opened fire on Diabolic Alloy, the energy melting the golden portions of his body as the blood began to boil. The hero melted into a puddle, crying out weakly. "Guess he fell apart on you!" (SLP: 3000-2500)

"When Diabolic Alloy is destroyed, I can add a Hero from my graveyard to my hand or that has been banished! I pick Captain Gold!" Sanzo held up the hero and placed it into his hand.

"Waste of a monster! I set one card face-down and activate the both of the effects of my Queen and Pheromone Conversion! If the equipped monster destroyed one as a result of battle, I can summon an Insect Monster Token in defense mode!" The Queen lowered her abdomen, laying two ooze-covered eggs. "That ends my turn!" (100/100x2)

"Draw!" Sanzo snapped it up and glanced up at the Queen. "One turn was too long for you to reign, so your rule is about to come crashing down!"

"Oh yeah?" Weevil rolled his eyes and folded his arms. "Just how are you going to do that?"

"The same way hero's always do - by rising to the challenge! I discard Captain Gold to add Skyscraper to my hand!"

Weevil blinked in confusion. "Are you stupid, scrub? What good does another copy of the card you have in play do for you!?"

"Just like my heroes have evolved, so has Skyscraper!" Sanzo grinned as his field slot opened and the surrounding buildings faded away. He caught the card as it was spat out and then slammed in the new card. "Activate Neo-Skyscraper!"

"Wha-? Neo?" Weevil's confusion was soon answered as buildings rose up around them again, but they were filled with futuristic curves and styles and the sky above wasn't blue. Ethereal colors of all shades gently wafted back and forth like a pastel drug high. "What the hell?"

"The worlds of Elemental Heroes and Neo-Spacians have collided in this place and the Elemental Heroes learned some new tricks! Like Contact Fusion!" Two cards fell out Sanzo's graveyard, and he held up Bubbleman and Sparkman. "I shuffle Avian, Sparkman and Bubbleman back into my deck to summon out their fusion!"

Weevil growled as he watched Avian transform into a sphere of green light that shot into the sky alongside a yellow and blue one. "I know what they make! And Tempest can't hope to beat me or my Queen!"

"I'm not summoning Tempest!" A triple-colored sphere descended onto Sanzo's field and scattered into motes of light to reveal a hero unlike any other. He most resembled Avian, but was taller and broader. His spread his wings, revealing they were sheets of light, two feather-shaped forearm blades strapped to his wrists and a pair of blasters dangling from his hips. "Elemental Hero Typhoon!" (2800/2800)

"Big freaking deal!"

"He's a very big deal, Weevil! And here's why! I destroy Hero Armory to activate Typhoon's special ability!" The continuous trap card shattered and Typhoon threw back arms as lightning surged around him, his blades gaining flowing water around them that began to spin like a buzzsaw. " _Storm Surge!_ Now he can double the attack points of my heroes and I choose himself!"

"What!?" Weevil's eyes bulged his glasses as the lightning around the hero reached a ferocious level, his attack score skyrocketing." You idiot, you can't attack my Queen! The pheromones prevent it because your hero is an insect!" (2800-5600)

Sanzo held up another card. "R - Righteous Justice destroys spells and traps equal to the number of heroes I have in play!" DNA Surgery exploded into dust and Weevil paled. "This is the end, Weevil! Attack and destroy his Insect Queen! _Hurricane Slash!_ "

Typhoon shot forwards with a single beat of his wings, flashing past Insect Queen in a blur. For a moment, it looked like the Queen might survive - then slash wounds opened up all over her body and she began to fall apart in a spray of gore and guts. All of it reflected in Weevi's wide-eyed look of horror.

TTTTTTT

 _A/N:_ _Three short duels, I said. They'd be easy, I said. Be nice filler, I said._

 _And now look what happened._

 _I'm_ _starting to think_ _my villains_ _are going to_ _hijack the story, lemme tell ya. But yes, the next chapter is coming_ _shortly_ _and contains more of this massive effort! Look forwards to it!_

 _Note:_

 _All created cards will be displayed_ _when the duels conclude, as I am still working out the wording for many of them._

 _Next Chapter: The duels continue and the Terrible Trio may find themselves in for more trouble than they bargained for against the strongest Duel Academy has to offer. Meanwhile, Serenity and Lyrius take the first steps of their training under Dracula...but the ruler of all vampires is ancient and her methods are just as old. And as terrible. For the best way to overcome pain in your past is to face the darkest parts of your own heart..._

 _Chapter 15: Fear Of The Dark_


	15. Fear Of The Dark

Kintsugi  
By 7th Librarian

 _A/N:_ _Here's part two of three, Fushioh and Castiel have their duels and Dracula makes good on her promise to train her two passengers!_

 _Sadly, there is not enough Resonae in this chapter. But there will be soon, I promise._

 _Let's begin!_

Chapter 15: Fear Of The Dark

Lyrius stared out at the ocean as Dracula's yacht cut a silent path through the waves. Between the dark waters and the star-filled sky above, the boat felt alone and isolated. The extent of his world's existence - no matter which direction he looked - the horizon was flat and endless. Even infinite, perhaps, lost to the nighttime and quiet rustling, endless ocean. Nothing else existed in this tiny world - just him, Dracula, Resonae and Serenity. He could pretend that all his worries and fears and problems were just products of his fanciful imagination, no more real or threatening than the stars up in the cloudless sky. A dream life, surrounded by those who cared for him.

 _But all dreams end when the dreamer awakens._ The thought was heavy, leaving him unable to enjoy or appreciate the view before him. _And even if I wanted to stay in this dream, I cannot escape_ _Graz'zt_ _in it. Nor ignore Iris' fate, either._

Lyrius closed his eyes and let himself sigh. _I spent so long being miserable and living with my pains. So many people tell me I can move past them that there's a life_ _outside of them_ _. But who am I without it? What is there beyond my quest?_

He felt the air stir behind him in a way that had nothing to do with the wind and Dracula's presence brushed against his own. "I reached out to a few people I know. They'll try to track down the number Serenity called to find this Mai woman. No matter where she is on the planet, they'll find her."

"Thank you. Serenity will be most relieved to hear that."

"And where is the doctor now?" Dracula moved to stand alongside him at the bow railing, silver hair tugged in the breeze.

"Sleeping. Today has been emotional for her and she has not recovered from her duel against her brother." Lyrius gave the vampire queen a sidelong look. "It is not helped by your need to antagonize and play with her emotions."

"I told you I would be taking her measure. And the best way to measure of a woman is to toy with the thing she loves." Dracula was unfazed by his look. "She has feelings for you, by the way. In case your broodiness kept you from seeing the obvious."

"No, it hasn't."

"Do you reciprocate those feelings, then?"

"I do not know."

"Do you want to?" Dracula waited, but there was no response. She rolled her eyes. "I think you should. She seems quite good for you."

Lyrius gave her a new, curious look. "You still carry a torch, Dracula. Would not encouraging me to have someone else frustrate you?"

Dracula laughed. "Do not take me for some mealy human, my songbird. I am Dracula and I endure. My feelings for you still burn as brightly as ever, but I am patient. I can wait one year or ten or a hundred. However long it takes until your heart is unguarded by another and I can steal it for my own."

"And if I simply find new lovers, one after the other?"

"Then I am still Dracula and I will find a way to be a part of your life and your love." The vampire smiled, the action showing off a fang. "You are my eternal companion. That shall always be so until the end of time."

Lyrius shook his head. "I envy you your confidence and self-assurance. My life would be much easier if I lived it with such certainty."

"You are making quite good attempt." When he gave her a confused look, Dracula pointed to the railing and his white-knuckled grip on it. "You do not do well with broad, open spaces, my love. Particularly the ocean."

"People have been telling me that the path out of my darkness is to overcome my fears. This one seemed the obvious choice to start with, given we're traveling by boat." Lyrius made a point of not looking at his hands and forcing himself to stare at the ocean.

"I see. I suppose that is why you never seemed to mind sleeping in the coffin with me." Dracula leaned on the railing as well, her own hand sliding into place over his, his fingers relaxing ever-so-slightly as she did so.

"It was a coffin-shaped bed, not an actual coffin."

"You remember it your way, I remember it mine." Dracula smiled at his little huff of annoyance. "And in the vein of memories, my songbird, all of mine over the last two years are distinctly lacking you in them. So what have you been up to over the last two years after abandoning St. Cuthbert's work?"

"I believe the answer you are fishing for is 'missing you terribly and lamenting the lack of blood-sucking monster in my life." Lyrius said so dryly the salt content in the ocean went up a notch.

"There is always more room for Dracula in one's life." The vampire agreed, leaning against him with her head on his shoulder. "Weave me a tale, my love. Did you find the answers to your questions?"

"Some, but not all." He gave her a sidelong look. "The most pressing among them being the answer to why you lied to me two years ago?"

If the accusation bothered Dracula, she gave no sign of it even as she just squeezed his fingers. "To protect you from yourself."

"By lying to my face about knowing anything about the dragons or Arcadia?"

"If I had told you, you would have gone off to try and claim that power or fight it, and you would have died. But I was selfish and I wanted to keep you trapped in the cage of my love, so I told you nothing."

Lyrius bristled, a hard shrug knocking the vampire's head from his shoulder and yanking his fingers out from under hers. She blinked up at him curiously and his anger rose into a razor glare. "You impeded my quest, denied me the strength I would need to rescue Iris by hiding that information from me!"

"Under Cuthbert's thumb as you were, you would not have been able to make use of anything I told you. They didn't trust you, they'd have taken it away for their own ends and even if you did learn more about your cards, it would not change the position you are in now." Dracula did not seem apologetic in the slightest, her tone matter-of-fact. "A starving hound, looking to crawl back to the master who whipped you."

Lyrius knew she was trying to goad him, trying to take his measure like she said she would and it was that fact that kept him tamping down on his anger to avoid giving her the satisfaction. "Are you any better? You would not strike me with the lash, but you would leash me with it as a reminder of who held the end!"

"Curious you do not deny your status, but instead deflect...how unlike you…" Dracula regarded him over her half-moon glasses, a smirk tugging at her lips. "I, on the other hand, will accept the truth of your little accusation. For I am vampire, I am Dracula and it is my nature to covet anything that denies my power."

"It is your nature to play games to keep others in your power!" Lyrius snapped. "Was there any honesty in your feelings or did you merely find the idea of toying with a broken man too pleasing to pass by?"

Dracula looked hurt. "I never lied to you about my heart nor denied my feelings, good or bad. I spoke the truth then and I speak it now - I love you, Lyrius Stormcloud. And I shall for all of our days."

"You love me as a scholar loves a puzzle, a scientist a conundrum - something to solve, to edit! You yourself admitted that you wanted to fix me into your perfect mate!" Lyrius took a step closer, eyes narrowed. "So I question just how capable you are of understanding of genuine love. Or are you so far removed from humanity, vampire, that the best you can do is the love of a child for a prized toy? Angry at it for breaking, and forgotten when the next present comes?"

The silence was thick between them as they locked glares and Lyrius was just deciding that storming away down the deck was the best option lest he and the vampire erupt in another brawl when he noticed something he could not recall ever seeing before.

Dracula's eyes glinting with tears.

"You can be terribly cruel." She said without preamble. "It would be so much better if you were to shout and rage and fight with me. These things, I have dealt with for millenia. But this - your words sharpened against truth and not anger, honest and real, this hurts far too much. Better you rip out my heart than to do this to me again."

Lyrius felt his ire run out of steam, a chastising voice in the back of his head already laying into him for attacking her like that. He turned to give her some privacy and hide his shame, but stopped when her hand caught his wrist.

"No. This will not help either of us, cowering from mistakes and pain. I have hurt you with my lies and you have hurt me with your truth, so now that we have both drawn blood, better to call the match, yes?" Dracula blinked away some more tears as Lyrius nodded slowly. "But if you ever say I do not love you like that again, I will never forgive you."

"I apologize." He hated those two words, right up there with 'I'm sorry'. Always did speaking them feel so weak in the wake in of whatever prompted their use. Better to take action, make amends equal to or greater than the hurt than try and stitch a wound closed with words.

"I also apologize." Dracula, in that frightening way she had, seemed to be reading his mind. "This, too, is unbearable for me. Not that I must make apologies, but I have to make them to _you._ But we are both terrible at it and so the scales are balanced. Nothing more to do than move forwards again."

"You are still crying." Lyrius noted, unable to help himself as he wiped a tear off her face with a thumb.

"I am still hurting." She put a hand to his heart. "As are you. We will both stop, I believe, when I am honest with you."

Lyrius nodded. "Tell me what you know about the cards I have, the dragons and Arcadia."

"Yes. At least now I am reassured you will not go traipsing off into the wilderness, if only because you are trapped on my boat." The vampire stepped away from him and turned to stare out at the ocean. "Have you ever wondered, my songbird, where Arcadia comes from?"

Lyrius realized that he hadn't and cursed himself for ignoring such an obvious question. "I have always assumed it just was part of Earth. Like Atlantis."

"Easy enough to do, for time has a way of burying things with history. But it is not a natural part of this world, Arcadia. No, it is in fact something brought over by the same force that brings Shadowkind to Earth." Dracula chuckled at his surprised expression. "I know it is hard to believe, because the only thing we know of being brought over are individuals and small groups. Nothing so large and populated as a magical kingdom."

"It makes too much sense to be ignored." Lyrius said. "Arcadia is too magical and unique to be a by-product of Earthly magic. A flying city, a town trapped in perpetual twilight, its inability to be charted or located even satellite technology and mapping…"

"Yes. I do not know when, exactly, it arrived to this planet nor do I know why it was brought over. It was discovered well before humans recorded history, however. And it stood to rival Atlantis as a magical superpower. But it never did. It's original inhabitants had brought over with their kingdom and they did not like this strange, frightening new world they were in. They did not want to be here and so they started looking into ways of going home." Dracula began to curl some of her hair around her finger.

"That is impossible. No one has been able to defy the force that brings Shadowkind here or locate the world that is their origin." Lyrius argued. "Even the gods claim not to know how it is done."

"That did not stop the Arcadians from praying to their god. You see, the island had been brought over not only with its people, but the god they worshipped. So they hid behind their defenses and tried to go home." Dracula turned to look at him, a knowing smile playing on her face. "Would you hazard a guess as to how that turned out?"

"When Iris and I took Arcadia away from the elves, the island had been abandoned for thousands of years. So I 'guess' that the original inhabitants either found a way to leave this plane or their efforts got them all killed."

"Oh, they left alright. The entire population of the island vanished in a single day. Though not without leaving something behind. But you already know what that is." Dracula's smile was teasing at his confused look. "Tell me, my songbird, what is it like to hold a piece of a god in a trading card?"

Lyrius reached into his deckbox, pulling out Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon and Clear Wing Synchro Dragon. "These cards...are pieces of the Arcadian dragon god?"

"Yes. Whatever the Arcadians did to leave, it destroyed their god and scattered its pieces. Of course, no one knew of it at the time and these pieces were left to the ravages of time. Until…" Dracula's perfect was marred by a perfect frown. "Alucard."

Lyrius couldn't help himself, his eyebrow lifting. "Your name, spelt backwards, happened?"

"It is only the modern pronunciation, as is my name. Their true pronunciation is-" Dracula said something Lyrius couldn't grasp and it almost made his ears bleed, but her chuckle said she wasn't expecting him to understand. "As it stands, Alucard was my appointed heir for the kingdom and he grew impatient after centuries of my not dying and decided to take matters into his own hands."

Lyrius glanced down at the two cars he held. "He got his hands on one of the pieces of the Arcadian god."

"Yes. And that piece taught him how to spirit summon, better known to you as summoning _ka_. I will admit, I was impressed at how Egyptians perfected the method. But that is neither here nor there." Dracula's lips curled in a sneer. "Alucard taught to his followers and they drove me from throne and kingdom."

"You sought revenge?"

"Of a sort. I had spent centuries defending my throne, I knew how many people coveted it and by sharing his power to his followers, Alucard had created an equal number of rivals as he had allies. So I left, content in the knowledge that this kingdom would destroy itself in its infighting and bickering." Dracula smiled cruelly at the memory. "It barely lasted ten years before it was nothing but ash and death."

Lyrius suppressed a shiver, reminding himself yet again that some of Dracula's thoughts and motivations were beyond his ken. And he should be thankful for that. "This is all very interesting, Dracula, but none of what you've said has given me any reason why you lie to me about it."

"That, my dear songbird, is forthcoming. You see, I wanted to grasp the power Alucard had gotten for myself and carved a bloody swath through his followers to find out how. My search lead me to Arcadia, by then nothing more than a centuries old-rumor and uninhabited by even animal life. Therein, I found the largest piece of the shattered god and sought to tame it." Now Dracula's smile was bitterly amused. "And I died for my arrogance."

That brought Lyrius up short. Dracula was as nearly indestructible as one could get without being a god, barring her few key weaknesses. And she was smart enough to protect herself from those. For to admit her death so freely… "You unleashed something you could not control."

"It had spent centuries in bitter angst about its abandonment and trapped situation. And when I wouldn't bow down to it, I made a convenient target for its wrath." Dracula said. "But I was undeterred and in my life after that, I approached that piece again and this time managed to make it submit. And I learned a few things from it."

"Anything worth lying about?" Lyrius refused to be distracted.

"Just one." The vampire's ruby eyes glittered. "That dragon has the ability to pierce dimensions. You could even travel to the Abyss with it."

Lyrius couldn't hide his gasp of surprise. To travel to the Abyss on one's on easy terms was nothing to scoff at. It was like flying just by flapping your arms a few times. "Do you still have it?!"

"I do." Dracula produced a Duel Monsters card and held it out to him, its back facing him. "I've had it for decades."

"And you didn't tell me…about it or the god the rest of the dragons are part of." Lyrius felt his ire growing, even as he reached for the card and growled as Dracula pulled it out of his reach. "Dracula!"

"This is why I didn't tell you, my love. I can see the gears turning in your head even now. With the knowledge that one of the dragons can travel dimensions, you want it. And the rest, so you can rebuild this dragon god and use it as your weapon to go save Iris, as fast as you can."

Lyrius paused, his hand falling to his side in defeat. He _had_ just been thinking along those lines - unlock the dragon cards, combine them into the god again and use its might to wrench Iris' soul away from Graz'zt. "Tell me, then, why it is not a correct path to take?"

"The dragon god is _dead_ , Lyrius. And some of its pieces are destroyed or changed so radically that they aren't truly a portion of the deity anymore. You would spend decades trying to achieve a goal that can never happen." Dracula's words were harsh, but not unkind as she hid her card away and stepped closer to him. "You already have one impossible task, I could not bear to see you burdened with two."

Lyrius wrapped his arms around her, drawing her close and burying his face in her neck as fresh pain welled in him. She was right. As bad he felt the urge to do exactly what she said now, he knew that Lyrius from two years ago would have done everything in his power to wrench her card from her and go around collecting the rest, anything else be damned.

But now, as powerful as that urge still was, it was outweighed by the tiredness he felt. Dracula smelt of flowers and blood and was as steady as stone, even his exhausted weight felt like nothing. "I feel...terrible, Dracula. Tired, spent and empty. Even hoping feels like too much effort."

"Even you cannot just overcome depression with just mere effort." Her hand rubbed his back soothingly and she nosed at his hair. "I would take your pain, if I could. All that I could give - my blood, my love, my body - would be yours for the taking if it would help for even but a single minute. I would treasure you forever and never leave you alone again."

Lyrius snorted into her neck. "When you speak like that, it is usually because you desire sex."

"I want to take you hard on this deck so much that it is a pain to me, my songbird. " She murmured gently. "But while your flesh would be willing, your heart would not. Your heart does not want me right now."

He pulled away, looking confused. "If you are discussing Iris, her predicament has not stopped us before. Nor should it. I have come to accept that she can only released from her prison, not returned to me."

"Perhaps you have, perhaps you have not...you are a stubborn man." She cupped his face, giving him a pointed look. "Stubborn enough to ignore the signs that you are falling in love yet again."

Lyrius felt colour rush to his cheeks beneath Dracula's touch. "I don't know what you mean."

"Lies are unbecoming of you. It is clear that the human doctor is in to you and if having your wife turn into her during a dream isn't a clue that you desire her, then you are just the most hopeless male ever." The vampire concluded supremely. "Even if that relationship were to end badly, you will never know unless you take the risk."

Lyrius avoided looking in her eyes - Dracula had a habit of using a vampire's compulsion when she was worked up about something. "It is...unhealthy right now. Neither of us is in a good place right now. If we leaned on each other in that way now, we would taint that relationship with our depressions and pain, strangle it with how dependant we would be on each other."

"So you have grown in wisdom, then. For those are much the same reasons that I do not simply claim you and the doctor for my own and cage you in my love." The vampire smiled at his annoyed noise and released him. "But if you are to ever have a healthy relationship, then you both must come to terms with the pain and depression and use it a a stepping stone into a brighter future. Fortunate, then, that Dracula is here."

"And that is because…?"

"I have many hundreds of years of experience at rebuilding broken things, my love. My kingdoms, my race, my people - all have I had to work at repairing after tragedy. I still do. But it is a labor of love, as will be assisting you." The vampire smiled in a frightening way, her ruby eyes glittering with promise. "We shall begin immediately."

"How? We are on a boat and -" Lyrius found himself cut off as she seized the front of his shirt and hurled him over the railing in one smooth motion.

Dracula waited until she heard the splash and then leaned over it, watching Lyrius splutter and surface. "Your physical body is weak, so we'll start with that. Swimming is good for such a thing. Fifteen laps around the yacht, please. The ladder won't drop until you're finished."

"That is what's known as a 'dick' move, Dracula!"

"Perhaps if you had given me some, I wouldn't have to make it." With a flourish of her coat, Dracula turned towards the interior of the yacht. "Do try to hurry, my songbird. I want to finish before dawn."

"Wait - where are you going?"

"To wake the doctor." Dracula chuckled mirthlessly. "Her training starts now as well…"

TTTTTT

"I'll start us off first!" Ensui drew a sixth card and then slapped down one. "One monster in defense mode and one card face-down. That ends my turn."

"I draw." Fushioh did and when he saw the card, a deep, sorrowful sigh escaped him. "Well, it appears that I'm afraid your potential is going to be cut short, Ensui. I'm terribly sorry about that, but fate does have a way of being exceptionally unkind without warning."

"You haven't even played a card yet and you're talking like you've won." The student's eyes narrowed. "Unless you got all five pieces of Exodia, there's no way that's true."

"Exodia? Oh, no, I've gotten far, far too up close and personal with him far too often. But what I'm about to do is probably worse. You see, against Exodia, one has the solace of knowing there was nothing they can do - countering him takes preparation. But my deck has a strategy that creates just as powerful monster." Here, Fushioh sighed again, resting his forehead in his hand. "And gives you the fool notion that you can fight back. A sliver of false hope and that is truly insulting a thing to do."

"If you're so confident that you're going to beat me with this move, why don't you play it instead of trying to make yourself sound so sympathetic." Ensui crooked his fingers at himself. "Bring it."

"Consider it brought, young man. I activate Instant Fusion, giving up one thousand life points to summon Lyrilusc - Independent Nightingale." Feathers fluttered out of the darkness, clumping together before bursting apart in a fanfare to welcome a teenage harpie wearing bright reds and blues. "Isn't she just charming?" (1000/0) (FLP: 7000)

"She's adorable." Ensui said dryly. "But you summoned her with Instant Fusion, so what are you tributing her for?"

"Oh, nothing much. Just my Tyrant Neptune." Nightingale vanished, replaced by a real monster. Tyrant Neptune loomed twice as tall as either duelist, a centaur-like lizard covered in heavy armor and wielding a wicked-looking scythe. It rattled out a nasty growl, hefting the weapon eagerly. "He may be level ten, but I can summon him with one sacrifice. He does take on her stats." (0/0-1000/0)

"That monster absorbs the abilities of the tribute monsters." Ensui looked up at the Legendary Planet monster with curious concern. "So what was worth it in that Nightingale?"

"Oh, well, first she is immune to all other card effects. Then, she had the ability to gain five hundred attack points times her total level." Neptune roared as golden energy flared around it and his power surged upwards like a rocket. (1000-6000/0)

"Attack points aren't everything - I've beaten worse!" Ensui folded his arms at the monster.

"And that is why my monster is terribly unfair. Nightingale had another effect. She can deal damage to a player equal to her level times five hundred." Fushioh watched as Ensui's confident expression dropped, the teen visibly flinching now. "This is going to hurt. _Lullaby Reaping!_ "

Neptune slashed his weapon through the air, unleashing a crescent of power that hissed through the air towards Ensui. It grew larger and louder as it did, so by the time of impact, Ensui's scream of pain was almost inaudible over the crackling energy. (ELP: 8000-3000)

Fushioh watched as Ensui's outline burned in the golden energy and then pitched forwards to a knee. "I suppose I'll have him attack your set monster, too. Just to keep up this sliver of hope thing."

Neptune didn't even need to move much, his size and reach of his weapon meaning he could slash the set monster in half without straining. It shattered into pixels and Fushioh blinked in surprise as an iconic roaring screech erupted from the darkness behind Ensui, a skeletal dragon like-form visible in the flaming energy. "Ohhh...Red-Eyes?"

"You destroyed Red-Eyes Baby Dragon-" Red-Eyes flared its wings, scattering the energy and revealing a standing Ensui. He was smoldering and his uniform was shredded, but he was smiling despite the flecks of blood over his body. "And he not only summons the adult Red-Eyes, but equips himself to it and gives it three hundred more points!" (2400-2700/2000)

"But that is still a far cry from my Tyrant Neptune and Red-Eyes, however you may wield him, has no method of defeating him." Fushioh raked a hand through his hair and shrugged in a 'what can you do gesture'. "Still, if you want to go down swinging, be my guest."

"Don't underestimate me or my Red-Eyes!" Ensui drew for his turn with a flourish. "We'll both show you the meaning of our infinite potential"

He pointed and one of his set cards flipped up. "Dragon Hatchery lets me summon a level three or lower dragon from my deck because I control a level seven or higher one! So here's another Red-Eyes Baby Dragon!" A child-like version of Red-Eyes appeared, roaring in the most adorable fashion. (1200/700)

"You can't defeat me with cuteness, I'm afraid. I've long outgrown such a notion."

"He's not here to be cute, he's here to attack!" The little dragon spat out a ball of flames at Neptune where it splashed against his armor with a little singe mark. Neptune snorted and his scythe slashed through the air, cleaving the little dragon in two.

"When I said you have a sliver of a hope, I wasn't expecting suicide to be your-" Fushioh watched as a prismatic, glowing barrier snapped into place in front of Ensui, soaking in all the backlash from his monster's attack. "What's this?"

"The trap card Enhanced Counter! Since I would have taken damage; that damage is negated and then added to one of my monsters!" Red-Eyes screeched as the barrier exploded into black flames wrapped around it like the fires of hell. (2700-7500)

Fushioh stared in surprise as the power of the dragon rose. "Oh my…"

 _"_ Destroy his so called invincible monster! _Inferno Fire Blast!_ " Red-Eyes' fireball was nothing but black flames and screaming energy. It slammed into Neptune, the monster staring in disbelief as the fireball shattered his scythe, melted his armor and slagged a hole through his body. With not even a cry, he shattered into pixels. (FLP: 7000-5500)

Fushioh staggered as the remaining flames washed over him, squinting through the searing light as a second skeletal dragon appeared next to Ensui. "And another baby dragon was destroyed in battle…"

"That means I get a second Red-Eyes! _Inferno Fire Blast!"_ Ensui smirked as the dragon unleashed more fireballs, the explosions rocking the field like bombs. "And don't think I'm done! From my hand, the quick-play card, Mystic Metalmorph!"

The Red-Eyes that had been empowered by Enhanced Counter glowed, metal seeping out from underneath its scales to coat them and leaving it gleaming with dangerous eyes and a wicked glint in its eyes. "I tribute my Red-Eyes to summon Red-Eyes Black Metal Dragon! Who attacks you directly! _Flash Flare Blast!"_ (2800/2400)

This time, the energy the metal dragon spewed forth was black and purple. Unlike the flames before, it slammed into Fushioh's field and erupted in a small mushroom cloud. Ensui smirked and folded his arms. "How do you like a One-Turn Kill?"

"You can't kill what's already dead, I'm afraid." The explosion cleared, revealing Fushioh looking not much better than Ensui was. But he was smiling as he held up his life point counter. (FLP:2800)

Ensui couldn't have looked more surprised. "How did you block the damage? You didn't have any set cards!"

"A little furball called Kuriboh. I must admit, I didn't expect for you to turn the tables on me like that and force me to defend myself. I greatly underestimated you, Ensui." Fushioh sounded quite happy about that. "You're no ordinary Slifer Red, are you?"

"I was knocked down dorms for taking tests for other students, but my dueling skills have always been Obelisk Blue!" Ensui said, his eyes flashing with determination. "So summon out your next 'invincible' monster so I can tear it apart!"

"Oh, I will. Tyrant Neptune was just a little something I had in my deck just to end duels quickly. So few actually are worthy of my deck's real ace, but you, Ensui, to take on such a powerful boss monster without any hesitation…" Fushioh's grin was almost manic. "I want to see what you're _really_ capable of now!"

"I'm glad to hurry up to your defeat! I end my turn!"

"I draw." Fushioh pulled the card free and then held it up. "One For One! I discard my Honest and summon out my true favorite monster!"

 _A level one monster is his ace? Just what kind of monster could it be?_ Ensui dug through his memory to see if he recalled anything about a level one monster being a centerpiece for a deck but nothing came to him. He caught a glimpse of the card as Fushioh searched it out. _And it's a Normal Monster?_

Fushioh played the card and it materialized in front of him. It floated lazily above the ground, flat and white and looking like not much more than a fluffy box with tiny arms, legs and a placid, bored expression of three lines for a face. About the only thing of noteworthiness was a pink thing shaped into a question mark. (300/100)

"Mokey Mokey!"

TTTTTT

"You need to move, little pony. I need to see the doctor."

 _(Well, she does not wish to see you.)_ Resonae straightened in resolution, her bulk filling the doorway to the cabin. ( _And frankly, I'm not keen on the idea either_ )

"Shocking," Dracula drawled. "But your wishes are of no concern to me. Let me pass."

( _The metal human needs rest, and my master commanded me to kill anything that tried to impede that_ ) Resonae smiled with far too many teeth. ( _Do you really want to push me now that my master is not here to save you?_ )

"Oh, Nightmare…" Dracula's return smile had just many fangs. "Don't you mean that he isn't here to save _you_?"

Resonae scoffed, a toss of her head sending whickers of magic through her fiery mane like sparks. _(I've slain and eaten your kind before, blood-drinker. Even if you are their ruler, all that does it make you the ruler of my next snack.)_

"You are just a _treat_ , you know that? No wonder Lyrius likes you so. But your dedication to your little herd is getting in my way." Dracula held out a hand, fingers curling in an arcane gesture. "Time to sleep, pony."

Resonae neighed a mocking laugh, her eyes glittering. _(You think feeble magic will put me to sleep? I am immune to such outside influences unless I wish it!)_

"And if they're internal? You did ingest my blood, after all…" Dracula yanked her hand back as Resonae lunged, nearly losing her fingers to the Nightmare's snapping teeth. "Fast, too. But the moment you took my blood, I had already won."

She watched Resonae slump to the ground, eyes closing as the magical sleep took hold. "I promise, I'll return them nice and whole. Perhaps even in better condition than when I found them."

Shoving the Nightmare's body away, she undid the lock and pushed the door open. "Time to get up, doctor! Sleep is for the weak and the dead and you have had enough of both!"

Serenity was awake before she had even finished speaking, bolting upright and her metal hand flashing out from underneath her pillow with a knife clenched in it. Her eyes widened when she caught sight of her intruder, but the knife did not drop. "Dracula? Where's Resonae?"

"I put her to sleep." Dracula's eyes shone with mirth as the grip on Serenity's knife tightened. "I am not here for your blood. I am here to begin your training, as I said I would. The Nightmare was just being obstinate."

"By waking me up in the middle of the night?"

"When else would a vampire be up and about?" Dracula didn't wait for a response and ripped the blanket off the bed. "Now, you reek of sweat and stress and it is staining my lovely sheets. Get in the shower, please."

"I didn't agree to this…" Serenity grumbled, but she found herself getting out of bed and pausing only when she noticed Dracula watching her. "I'm not changing in front of you!"

Dracula smirked, but turned around. "Is this better?"

"Close enough…" Serenity quickly pulled off her baggy clothes, trying to ignore how threadbare and worn they were. Even her bra was uncomfortable, a wire digging into her skin. _The moment I start winning in Vegas, I am going clothes shopping, just like Mai taught me to!_

The shower was small, but the water was hot and Dracula's bath products were fresh and that was all Serenity cared about. At least until she stepped out, wiping soap out of her face as her other reached for the towel was. And found nothing. "Dracula? I can't seem to find my towel!"

"Is that so?" The vampire called back from the other room, smugness lacing every word. "Why don't you come out here and we'll see if we can't find you something."

Serenity didn't like that tone one bit as she carefully squeezed herself out of the bathroom. _She's the ruler of all vampires, I would have thought stealing my towel as a joke would have been beneath her!_

Serenity noticed two things when she entered the cabin. The first was that Dracula was completely naked and that everything that could have been counted as clothing was gone. Her duffel bag was empty, the curtains were gone and the bed was stripped of everything but the mattress.

"Wha..what...what is this?! What is going on!"

"The first step in your training is self-acceptance. And we're going to start from the outside in. So for the next week, you will have nothing to cover yourself with. Nor will I. Or Lyrius. Nudity is a great equalizer, you see and we will keep no secrets from one another." Dracula's little smile didn't waver Serenity marched up to her furiously.

"Where are my things!?"

"They're on the deck, along with all of my clothing." Dracula was serene as Serenity's eyebrow developed a twitch. "We're going to burn them."

"The hell we are! Dracula, I don't care what you do with your stuff, but that clothing is one of the few possessions I have in the world!"

"You mean those things that are just one step away from being rags?" Dracula didn't wait for a response. "They are in the way. Clinging to them serves no purpose. And by destroying them, you'll have taken the first step to letting go of your past."

"No purpose-" Serenity was beside herself. "I could freeze to death without them! And I'm not walking around naked with Lyrius around, too!"

"You know he has feelings for you. If you are both naked, then you'll be able to confirm them by his reaction to your body." Dracula's grin was obnoxious. "Or, perhaps you are more worried that he _won't_ like what he sees…"

Serenity had endured many sharp tongues and snide remarks over the course of her career, and she clenched her teeth as she always had and held back the retort that was welling up inside her. "I don't care what he thinks of my body."

"Another lie to yourself. Rest assured, by the time we arrive in America, you will be very appreciative of what he sees in your body and the rest of you." Dracula gestured for the cabin door. "Now let's begin. You are going to light the match that burns everything."

"I will do no such thing, Dracula! I -" Serenity's eyes flew wide as a pressure on her windpipe crushed the next words before they could reach her mouth. The same bitter cold she had felt from Duelist Kingdom washed over, weighing her down and dropping her to her knees as she gasped for air.

The vampire watched placidly, eyes frozen blood. "Let me be clear on the arrangements here. You are on my ship, in my company, in my power. You have no recourse but to do as I say, when I say, how I say. I _will_ teach you about your magic and you _will_ learn."

Darkness flared in Serenity and her hair darkened to the color of fresh blood as she rose to her feet, eyes narrowed as energy crackled in her fingertips. "Don't underestimate me, you-"

The vampire moved faster than Serenity could follow, crushing her fingers together and snuffing out the magic in an iron grip. Serenity stared at them and tried to tug her hand free, but it wouldn't budge and she bit her lip as Dracula's grip tightened further. "How-"

"You are just a child, Serenity, taking its first steps into the magical world. That necklace and power you have barely scratches the surface of it. And I tell you this, the evils you encounter will be far less kinder than I am being right now. Do you want to live?"

Serenity nodded.

The vampire's grip tightened. "Do you want to live?!"

"Yes!" Serenity gasped, tears welling up in her eyes. How could this hurt so much? She was calling for the magic, reaching, but it was like Dracula's presence was making it afraid - it wouldn't come.

Her response must have pleased the vampire, because she released Serenity and pointed out the cabin door. "Then head to the deck and burn the clothing." There was something...sad and soft in the vampire's eyes when she spoke next. "I would think, as a doctor, you would know that for somethings to heal, they have to get much worse before they get better...but I promise, it will get better."

Naked and ashamed, hurt and wiping at her tears and feeling as miserable as she could recall as she marched towards the deck stairs, Serenity tried not to imagine how much worse this could get.

She had a feeling that whatever she dreamed up wouldn't compare to the reality.

TTTTTT

"I'll start us off, 'Dark Kaiser'." Castiel drew his sixth card and then held one up. "Random Encounter activates - I excavate the top five cards of my deck, pick a LV monster among them and summon it!"

He flicked the cards of his deck, fanning them out in front him and smiled. "I choose to summon my Atomic Mind LV5 in attack position." The monster was a nightmare, decayed and warped flesh clinging to glowing bones. What wasn't flesh was brain matter growing everywhere over it, pulsing and throbbing with dark life. (2400/1700)

Harrison gave the monster a disgusted look, but it tightened into a sharp look as the monster roared at him. "If you think playing such a twisted creature is going to frighten me…"

"This? Cause fear? No, this is just the first step!" Castiel slid a card into his disk and it shimmered into existence in front of him, picturing showing Horus The Black Flame Dragon and Rookie Trainer training together. "Level Grinding is a continuous spell that lets me send 'Level Up' from my hand or deck to the graveyard to use it effect!"

He dropped the named card into his graveyard and Atomic Mind roared again as its radioactive glow increased. It grew bulkier, the brains swelling as veins zig-zagged over their surfaces and it skull cracked, the brain inside bulging outwards as sparks danced over it. "Atomic Mind LV7!" (2700/1000)

Grabbing a card, he slid it into his disk and it appeared behind his monster. "I'll set this and call it a turn. Let's see what you can do, 'Kaiser'."

Harrison drew. "I don't know what you're thinking, playing level monsters against me, but such a weak and outdated method won't work! I normal summon Legendary Demon Slayer - Dante!" In a flutter of red leather, the silver-haired demon hunter appeared and gave Castiel a cocky grin. (1500/1000)

"And when Dante is summoned, I can equip with a Devil Arms from my deck! I select Ebony and Ivory!" Twin pistols, one black and the other white, appeared in Dante's grasp and he gave them both a flamboyant twirl. "This raises his attack by four hundred and allows him to attack twice!" (1500-1900)

Castiel watched as Dante suddenly holstered the weapons, a wicked-looking bat-themed guitar appearing in his arms. The devil hunter strummed a few notes and pumped a fist in the air as electricity danced over the weapon. "Another Devil Arm?"

"This one is Nevan, and it raises his attack by another four hundred!" (1900-2300)

"That's nice, but it still falls far short of my monster's power."

Harrison just grabbed another card from his hand. "Just like you, I've got a continuous spell card to play! Weapon Mastery!" Dante took on a meditative pose, though the effect was ruined by his teasing grin. "Now all warrior-types gain three hundred attack points for each equip card attached to them!" (2300-2900)

He snapped out his hand, pointing at Atomic. "Dante! Wipe that eyesore off my playing field! _Jam Session!"_ Dante began to rock on the guitar, the purple lightning dancing in time to the music as it became a swarm of bats that shot towards their target.

Castiel chuckled as the bats swarmed over his monster in a frenzy and when it cleared, the glowing bones clattered to the ground before exploding. "All of that effort for so little gain…" (CLP: 7800)

"Fool. When a card goes to your graveyard, Nevan deals you three hundred damage and Dante still has his second attack this turn-" Harrison's eyes widened behind his glasses as Dante suddenly dropped to his knees, weapons clattering off him to explode into dust as the demon slayer's skin became mottled and splotchy. "Dante!" (2900-1500)

"When you destroy Atomic Mind at this level, all of your face-up cards on the field have their effects negated." Castiel laughed at the glare Harrison gave him. "You underestimated me because I played level monsters, but my level monsters are like nothing you have seen before!"

Harrison narrowed his eyes and slammed a card into disk. "I set one card face-down. End of turn."

Castiel drew. "Not a very good first turn, 'Kaiser'. I was expecting more from the best duelist in the school, but I suppose that's just the gap between a schoolboy's dreams and the real world."

He pointed at his field and a brain-covered arm burst free, Atomic Mind hauling itself up as Harrison's Weapon Mastery card shattered. "During my turn, my monster can revive itself by destroying one of the irradiated cards."

"When Weapon Mastery goes to the graveyard, I can add one equip spell card from there to my hand." Harrison held up Devil Arms-Nevan.

"Can't use that till next turn and it's still mine, boy!" Grabbing a different card, Castiel tossed it down. "I normal summon Rookie Trainer in attack mode have him attack Dante!" A youth in a red cap and blue jacket appeared, already running across the to sock Dante in the face. (800/1200)

Dante just back-handed the youth away and he shattered into pixels. (CLP: 7100) "And when Rookie Trainer is destroyed, I can summon another level monster from my deck. Come forth, Seraphic Promethea LV6!"

The new monster that stepped out of the darkness was startlingly human, the tattered and patchwork duster not hiding sleek beauty and liquid grace at which the monster moved. One might have even described it as beautiful save for the strange, haunting eyes it had. (2500/1900)

"Frankenstein's Monster…" Harrison lifted an eyebrow. "It doesn't look like any interpretation I've ever seen."

"The original creature was described as beautiful, it's terror comes from how human it really was! And its power comes from my Level Grind card!" The continuous spell began to glow, and the monster began to change. It grew taller, reaching eight feet in height and strange, oily rainbow wings spread from its back while an odd, magma-like fire took place of its eyes. "Seraphic Promethea LV8!" (3000/2500)

Castiel snapped his fingers. "Battle!" Atomic Brain roared, the brains glowing purple as a twin blast of psychic power and lightning shot towards Dante.

"Reverse card open!" Harrison's set card lifted, the attack vanishing into a wormhole that opened in front of Dante. "Negate Attack stops your attack and ends the battle phase!"

Castiel rolled his shoulders. "Then I guess I end my turn. Let's see what your little devil slayer can do without any of his toys."

Harrison drew, eyes flicking over to the drawn card and a smirk crossed his face. "Dante has more to him than just his equip cards! I activate Style Change!" A vortex of red energy surrounded Dante, and he vanished from view.

When it cleared, the monster looked unchanged from what he had before. But his expression was calmer and there was an aura of experience that hadn't been there before. "Style Change tributes the original Dante to summon Legendary Demon Slayer - Dante The Swordmaster from my Extra Deck!" (1000/1000)

"A Transformation Summon…" Castiel hadn't expected anything like that. "So what does this new version do? He's even weaker than the original."

"First, he inherits the effect of Dante, but he gains two equip card! Ebony and Ivory return to him and then his new weapon shall be Devil Arms - Agni and Rudra!" Two scaled scimitars appeared in Dante's hands, fire and wind dancing around the blades. "These weapons bolster his attack by five hundred and let him attack without chain!" (1000-1500-1800)

Harrison slammed a card into his disk. "I also equip him with Devil Arms - Nevan!" Dante slung the two swords across her back, better to accept the demonic lightning guitar. (1800-2200)

The Obelisk Blue student wasn't done though and held up yet another card. "I activate Blood of the Devil Star, placing one Devil Trigger Counter on Dante! And you should know that Dante the Swordmaster gains three hundred attack points for every equip he has!" (2200-3100)

"Well, that's a powerful monster you have there...but you're expending a lot of effort for it." Castiel gestured to Atomic Mind. "When you destroy this creature, all of it will be nothing!"

"Your overconfidence will be your downfall!" Harrison sneered and pointed at Dante. "I Devil Trigger him!"

Energy exploded around Dante, leaving him crackling with a power and a demonic visage. Even his coat had gotten into the act, blending into his body as it became armored and sharp. "This unlocks the special abilities of his weapons! Ebony and Ivory give him another eight hundred points!" (3100-3900)

Dante yanked out Agni and Rudra, twirling them as energy began to emanate from the two weapons. "Go, Dante! Attack and destroy Seraphic Promethea!"

The devil hunter shot forwards, a 'x' appearing across the monster's chest as he slashed with the blades. Castiel laughed even as the backlash washed over him. "You can't destroy my monster so easily!" (CLP: 6300)

"Can't I?" Dante and Harrison smirked as one, the monster snapping his fingers. The 'X'-slash exploding in wind and flames that dissolved Seraphic Promethea away. "The Devil Trigger effect of Agni and Rudra negates the effect of your cards when Dante attacks!"

"What?" Castiel's eyes widened in surprise. "But that means-"

"Your Atomic Mind's negation power is useless! Dante!" The radioactive creature's burst of psychic electricity didn't even phase Dante as he slashed the mutant into ribbons. (CLP: 5300)

"Don't forget about Nevan! Normally you'd take three hundred damage when a card of yours went to the graveyard, but Devil Triggered, that damage is seven hundred!" The bats swarmed Castiel and exploded in violet, leaving him smoking. (CLP: 3900)

Castiel staggered, slumping to one knee as pain rocked his body. _I haven't fed since Duelist Kingdom...and this is a Darkness Game...I should be able to shrug these attacks off no problem, but that boy has a power of his own and he's adding it to Dante's hits!_

Harrison pushed up his glasses by the bridge with a smirk. "Don't think you're safe just yet. You see, Swordmaster's real danger comes from the fact that he can attack you once for each card that's equipped to him!" His smirk grew as Castiel's good eye widened. "This is what they call a One-Turn Kill, yes? Dante! Finish him!"

"Don't...don't act so smug, boy! I activate the graveyard effect of Random Encounter! I banish it when I have no monsters and then I summon a LV monster from my hand! And since I'm using it before you attack, Dante can't negate it!" He slapped down a card, a thrashing pile of wicked vines and flowers appearing front of him - Devil Weed. Then it was gone as a single swing of Dante's blades reduced to ashes. Followed by a burst of lightning from Nevan's _Crazy Roll_ ability. (CLP: 3200)

"It appears I overestimated the threat you pose to Duel Academy." Harrison shook his head. "If all you can do is dodge, then this duel is already over. I end my turn."

Castiel drew his next card, fingers slipping once before he could grip the card to pull it. There wasn't much strength left in him. _Dammit! If I were at full strength, I'd crush him…_

He added the new card to his hand, pointedly trying to ignore the field spell that had been sitting in his hand since his opening turn. The Orichalcos was whispering at the back of his mind, promising him relief from his pain if he'd just play it this once. He'd be able to duel with a clear head and crush the mere human before him.

An image of Serenity's triumphant laugh as her Virus Fusion Dragon had corrupted and shattered the Seal flashed in his mind and he shoved the whispering voice away. _I'm done with your promises of power, Orichalcos! If my human little sister can surpass you then my power as a vampire certainly can! I'll win this duel with my own strength!_

The voice kept whispering.

Could he really do it? It wasn't even his third turn, and the human had an overwhelming advantage. He may be a vampire, but he was clinging to outdated dreams using outdated cards using outdated talk to try to show the world he was still something to be feared. But he wasn't. No vampire was anymore. They were stories, fiction for the humans They didn't fear his fangs anymore - they just asked if he cosplayed.

And he did. Castiel was just Ryan's vampire character...

 _Silence!_ "From my hand, I activate Magical Mallet, shuffling my hand into my deck and drawing the same number of cards!" Castiel proceeded to do so and ripped the cards free, his anger burning away the fatigue and pain. "And then I'll activate Experience Bonus! I banish three Level Monsters from my the graveyard and draw two cards!"

Both levels of Atomic Mind and Devil Weed fell out of his graveyard and then he drew two new cards, his eye widening in delight when he saw what they were. "I'm about to summon my favorite monster! I activate the ritual spell card - Limitless Potential! I have to offer ten stars worth of monsters, so the level four Ace Trainer and the level six Seraphic Promethea from the graveyard!"

Blood fountained up from the ground in front of him. It spiked higher than either duelist, splintering and twisting off like some kind of tree that was continually dying and replenishing itself. Then it dissolved away back into the ground, leaving a pale-skinned figure in its place. Gaunt to the point its bones were visible underneath the skin and so motionless that the only signs of life were its burning blue eyes. "Behold Potential LV 0!" (0/0)

"A ritual level monster…" Harrison frowned at the nonsensical idea of mixing two incompatible summoning types. "Is this the part were you gloat about your new monster is invincible?"

"Who knows if he is? My monster may seem weak, but he represents an infinite power! That of change! Allow me to demonstrate!" Level Grind began to glow and Castiel deposited the last Level Up into his graveyard. "When my monster is leveled up, he undergoes a great transformation!"

Potential suddenly threw back his head and howled, the noise loud and determined. It echoed back upon them, even as chains flew out of the darkness to lash around the monster's arms and chest. Three horns erupted from his skull, curving backwards. Two great wings literally ripped from his back, one black and leathery and the other sullen white feathers; both were dripping blood. Claws extended from his hands as hellish flames erupted around him, blackening his skin and cracking it open to let magma-like blood leak free.

Harrison watched the transformation, unable to shake the feeling that it was something _inside_ the ritual monster that trying to break free. "How is it possible to level into another ritual monster without the proper ritual?"

"This is in actuality a Transformation Summon from my Extra Deck." Castiel smiled as Potential stopped yelling, lowering his head to reveal an eerie, cruel look on his face reminiscent of his master. "Potential Level 6!" (2400/2400)

"All of that...for a lower level monster that doesn't even compare to Dante." Harrison said scornfully. "You've lost your mind."

"Allow me to correct that mistaken assumption of me, boy. This form is Potential tapping into the powers of hell itself! And with it, he can form contracts with the other level monsters I posses!" Castiel's deck churned and spat out a card that he held up. "Like Armed Dragon LV10!"

Harrison was about to ask what that mean when Potential just started snickering in a cruel fashion and Castiel dropped a card into his graveyard. Blades sprang out of the darkness and slashed into Dante, blood erupting from the demon slayer and dropping him to his knees before he blew apart. "You...you copied that monster's effect!?"

"Oh, but there's more! I activate Zero Blade! You may not have a monster to weaken, but it still allows Potential to attack twice! _Devil Potential!_ " The mutated monster flapped its wings, showering the playing field with droplets of blood as he rose skywards. Flames, dark and wicked, erupted around his hands and he plunged them into the ether. Harrison screamed as giant versions of hands sprang out of the darkness and caught him between them in a giant clap., leaving his word nothing but an inferno of pain. (HLP: 8000-5600-3400)

"I think I'll just set the last card in my hand face-down and watch you struggle for breath, human." Castiel did so, both he and Potential chuckling as Harrison staggered back upright to fix them both with a glare. "End of turn, Kaiser."

"That's right - I am the Dark Kaiser and I am going to show you how I earned that title! You may have defeated Dante, but he is not the only devil slayer!" Glancing at the drawn card, Harrison flipped it around. "I activate my own ritual spell! Opening The Gates to the Demon World!"

"But that's the only card in your hand and Dante is the only monster in your graveyard! You have nothing to sacrifice!"

"I can sacrifice Devil Arms to fill the cost for the ritual and I have all that I need!" Ebony and Ivory, Nevan and Agni and Rudra fell out his graveyard alongside Dante and he slid them all into the proper slot on his Duel Disk. "Lend me your power, partner! Come forth, Legendary Demon Slayer- Vergil!"

Footsteps echoed as a phantasmal figure strode out of the darkness, growing more solid with each step. He was dressed identically to Harrison, but his white hair was spiked backwards to reveal a cruel, handsome face with sharp blue eyes. There was confidence in every stride as he eyed Castiel and his monster with disdain. ( _My power shall be absolute…)_ (2800/2000)

Castiel's lips thinned tightly as he felt the darkness around them shift subtly at the monster's presence. _A Duel Spirit… this_ _is going to_ _complicate matters._

"Just like Dante, when Vergil is summoned, he gains a Devil Arm! Yamato!" A katana fell from the sky, it's lacquered wood sheath gleaming in the dull light of the darkness game. Vergil held it one hand, chuckling as his power rose. (2800-3300)

"So this is the monster that is tied to your soul…." Castiel smirked at Harrison. "A would-be devil who craves power above all else and in the end, becomes power's slave. Pathetic."

"You're not the first to tell me that, but no ever says it more than once." Harrison's eyes flashed, sharing the same coldness as Vergil's. "Might controls everything and without strength, you cannot protect anything."

"Hmph. So you're trying play anti-hero and be the dark protector?"

Now it was Harrison's turn to smirk derisively. "If you want heroes, go talk to that idiot Sanzo. What I want to protect has already been taken from me. And if I can't protect, Vergil and I will avenge it! We'll slay every monster like you to bury our pain of loss!"

"Pain of loss, huh? Well, that's a sentiment I can understand…" Castiel and Potential both raised their right arms, crooking their fingers in a 'come and get it' gesture. "Come on, then, boy. Strike at me with your pain and sorrow...and I'll show you that you don't have the slightest understanding of either!"

TTTTTT

The flames were blazing, reaching higher than Serenity thought possible and yet the intense heat did not even scorch the deck below or singe the three people watching the pile of clothing and fabric burn.

Despite the flames, she felt cold and hugged herself. The heat was warming her front and the ocean breeze nipping at her backside. She swore she could feel them in her metal limbs. Lyrius stood on her right, equally naked, irritation rolling off him waves. Serenity was doing her best not to look. She had seen him undressed many times in her capacity as doctor, but there was something different about seeing him now, after everything that they had been through already, which was forcing her desperately to avert her eyes and _not_ see him.

Instead she looked at Dracula, but that was not making her feel much better. The vampire held none of the shame or awkwardness that the two humans had, striding around the blazing fire with her head held high as she checked that all of it was burning nicely. There was not an inch of her that wasn't beautiful, and Serenity felt a tight knot of jealousy evolving in her stomach, and she wrapped her arms tighter around her own body, acutely aware of just how much she did not look like that any longer.

Desperate for some kind of distraction, she glanced at Lyrius out of the corner of her eye. His own gaze was equally uncomfortable, and she found her words tripping out of her mouth. "So...she got you too then?"

Predictably, Lyrius's scowl reverted to the happy vampire. "' _Take off those wet things and get in the shower!'_ she said," he grumbled bitterly. "Tricksome harlot…"

There was that name again, just like 'songbird', hinting of the closeness that he had shared with their host once upon a time. The knot of jealousy grew larger in Serenity's belly and began to flare this time. She did not like seeing Lyrius uncomfortable - it did not suit him. She shrugged. "I bet you miss Voltaire now. At least all he did was snuggle you and try to live in your hair."

"Voltaire is a...tactile individual. I believe I once heard him best described as a 'sense freak'." Lyrius went a little pink and his gaze fixed rigidly on the flames. "I gave him the name 'couplet' due to his flowery speech, but he adores good tasting things and experimenting with flavor…"

There was a lot of subtext in that sentence and that, along with the revelation of yet another intimate nickname made the jealousy in her squirm and Serenity tried to quash it. She liked Voltaire and Lyrius had made it clear that what they had shared was over. But there was still that part of that was envious that the rambling, silly Shadowchaser had gotten closer to Lyrius than she ever had, even if Voltaire didn't seem to want to restart their relationship.

Dracula, on the other hand...well, Serenity wasn't sure if the fire in the vampire's eyes was from her lust for Lyrius or the actual fire blazing between them. "This is the first step to renewal. As do burned forests become reviving ash for the next generation, so too will I help you burn down the forests of your past and your pain to clear space to rebuild."

She waved her hand and the smoke cleared way, the flames shrinking slowly back into the deck. "There are no secrets, no tricks and no lies that exist here any longer. All that remains is what we bring with us in our hearts."

It was sounding a lot like some of the self-help seminars Serenity had seen over the course of her life and had always dismissed when they started promising 'natural cures' for genuine medical problems. But the way Dracula spoke, that look in her eyes… the doctor herself shrinking in on herself, every flaw and issue spawning forth in her head fireworks.

Lyrius looked discomforted as well, his fingers twitching like he was resisting the urge to reach for a weapon. "Are we to talk our problems away, then? Or simply burn things until we feel resolved?"

"Neither, my dear songbird." Dracula smiled with her fangs as Serenity fought another pang of jealousy. "I have prepared training for each of you and through it, you will face your greatest fears, weaknesses and lies you tell yourself."

She slashed her palm with her claws, clenching that fist until blood leaked between her fingers and with a truly wicked laugh, she scattered the blood into the smouldering remains of the fire. The flames roared back to life in response, more than doubling in size and morphing into a wild blue and green inferno. The smoke pouring off turned as white as snow and thick as fog as it began to descend towards them. Serenity heard Lyrius shout her name, even as she called up Doctor Death's mask on her face as her magic surged.

But both he and the magic were too late and the smoke wafted over her like cottony cement, crushing her and trapping her and all Serenity could see were two ruby eyes watching her and that laughter chasing her into unconsciousness.

TTTTTTT

 _Well, nothing ever quite goes as expected, does it? In the third installment, all three duels wrap up but our heroes struggles are just beginning as Dracula forces Serenity and Lyrius to gaze into the abyss of time and pain that is the past - and the abyss gazes back…_

 _See it all in the next chapter: Fear The Truth_

 _Editor's note: Apologies if I missed any typos. In his rush to pin down his masterpiece, Husband-cat often forgets words. Usually I can pick them up, but when I read duels my eyes glaze over and a line of drool starts trickling from my mouth over the keyboard. So I may have missed a few things, but what do you want from me - my new pills make me sleepy. Don't forget to review - they are 7th Librarian's crack._


	16. Fear The Truth

Kintsugi  
By 7th Librarian

A/N: _Here it is, the last piece of a massive chapter that got even more massive than normal because I could add or edit scenes from the original giant_ _draft_ _. I will be_ _piecemealing_ _out card information over the next few chapters because listing them all would inflate the word count to a silly level._

 _On the plus side, I get to show off why the villains are villains and not just comic relief! And we're one step closer to Las Vegas, which my wife and I have been just desperate to write._

 _For now, though, enjoy the conclusion to the card games!_

Chapter 16: Fear The Truth

Awareness returned to Serenity in the form of frigid ice underneath and blazing sun scorching from above. She gasped in surprise as the sensations slammed into her and jumped up, staggering as her bare feet slipped on the ice.

And not only was the sun far too hot, it was blinding. Serenity clamped her eyes shut and still had to shield them with her metal hand, the ocean water and ice she was standing on reflecting every ray of light so they were like daggers to her eyes.

Once she felt her eyes had adjusted, she cracked them open. She was standing on an iceberg of all things, if the sloping, rock-like nature of the ice was any sign and still on the ocean. The water stretched around her in all directions, the horizon an unbroken circle of blue surrounding her.

No sign of the yacht. Or Dracula. Or Lyrius.

For a moment, she considered that given what had happened with the fire, this was some kind of illusion or hallucination. But no, this felt far too real. The temperature extremes of the cold and the sunlight made her nudity even more clear.

"Are you feeling afraid yet?"

Serenity turned to find Dracula, still just as naked and not bothered by the sunlight or the cold, standing on the far end of her little frozen island.

The vampire continued. "I wouldn't ask where or when you are, because I don't feel like explaining it. And it rather irrelevant in the face of the obstacles in front of you. You don't like the ocean, for one."

Serenity had doing her best to ignore that fact, trying to focus on what kind of 'training' this could be. The worry was already nesting in her, though, ready to bloom into a flower of panic as the thoughts of how empty the endless expanse of blue was circled her mind like dogs trying to get a treed cat.

Dracula's lips quirked a little, and the doctor got the feeling that again, the vampire was reading her thoughts. "You could combat your panic by closing your eyes and laying down. But this isolation is the least of your worries."

Serenity folded her arms. "Do I have to worry about you trying to drink my blood? Or sharks?"

"That might come later." Dracula said. "Why don't I lay it out for you? Travel time by boat between America and Japan is two weeks, give or take. At full speed, my yacht can perform the trip in one week."

Serenity felt a cold run down her spine that had nothing to do with the iceberg. She suspected Dracula's method of training and it wasn't pleasant. In fact, the vampire's next words confirmed that in the worst way possible.

"Now tell me, doctor, how long can a human survive without food or water?"

Serenity and every medical professional knew that from their first day of schooling - almost three weeks without food, but just three days without water. And that was for a healthy person. She was not healthy or well-nourished plus her advanced age meant that there were far too little reserves of fat and protein in her body to last even half that time.

"I can see the realization on your face, smell your fear spiking…" Dracula murmured. "You already fear you might die from starvation or dehydration, but why about exposure to the sun and the ice? Haven't you felt it already over your wrinkled skin? I imagine the soles of your feet must tingle as the ice deadens their nerves, your shoulders and back throbbing as the sun bakes them?"

So that was another hound of worry to join the two already circling the treed cat that was her mind. Her folded arms had already transitioned into a self-hug and Serenity could already feel her teeth chattering. Still, she forced herself to remain focused. "So what kind of training is this supposed to be? Pick on the poor human?"

"No, it is to show you what lies beyond your humanity. You have nothing now, doctor. Nothing but yourself...and that necklace." Dracula gestured to it and Serenity felt it almost tighten around her neck as if it were afraid of the vampire. "You are afraid of the power it has? Then I force you to face that fear."

She smiled, and it was all malice. "But you are old and feeble, worn down from the trials of your life. I estimate you will last a day out here, perhaps two if you are lucky. So then…" Her eyes glittered. "I will check on you in three days."

Then she vanished, her dark smirk the last thing to disappear like she was a demented Cheshire Cat, and Serenity was alone.

So alone.

TTTTTTT

Ensui stared at the little white blob of marshmallow across the field. It looked quite bored and almost asleep with the dull expression on its face. What this some kind of joke? Mokey Mokey wasn't any kind of ace monster he'd ever known - it had no effect and required at least five cards to used - Mokey Mokey, Mokey Mokey Smackdown to boost Mokey Mokey's attack to three thousand, Human-Wave Tactics, another weak fairy and some kind of card for protection. But his opponent, though only having played a few cards, had played none that suggested that he was running a typical strategy.

The student shifted his gaze to Fushioh. His opponent was smiling in a gentle, confident way, though Ensui still couldn't shake that something was _off_ about his appearance. Like everything about the other teen was so real it was fake. He'd heard about some duelists using holographic disguises, but what purpose did that serve here on Duelist Academy? Was it genuine or just a play? The more he thought about it, the more Ensui decided that Mokey Mokey and his master were similar. Placid on the surface, but some kind of rip current hidden underneath.

"What do you think?" Fushioh asked. "Befuddled? Confused? Concerned? I won't even be insulted if you were questioning my sanity. You wouldn't be the first."

"You started a Shadow Duel in the place where innocent people lost their lives, and seem too happy about that fact." Ensui stated, his dragons roaring in agreement. "I'd say you past sanity a long time ago."

"I won't deny it - places like this dorm always intrigue me. Ever here the phrase 'after a great crisis, there is a great opportunity'? I've learned more from the mistakes of others than I ever have studying by myself." Fushioh said, grabbing cards from his hand. "I equip Mokey Mokey with Amulet of Ambition. Now when he battles a higher level monster, he gains five hundred attack times the difference in their levels So I believe he'll attack your original Red-Eyes. A level difference of six means three thousand more attack points." (300-3300)

Mokey Mokey stirred, its body glowing as its power shot up thanks to its new equip card. A similar glow appeared around Red-Eyes and Mokey Mokey made a squeezing gesture with its stubby arms. The dragon's body creaked and shuddered, cracks spreading everywhere and then it explode with a pain-filled roar.

Ensui braced himself as the backlash hit him, gritting his teeth. (ELP: 3000-2100) "That's all for your 'ace' monster? A cheap equip card?"

"Oh, not in the least. I set two cards face-down and end my turn." Fushioh said in a pleasant voice. "Now, show me what else you can do. Is there anything special with your Metal Dragon? I've never encountered a duelist who _uses_ that card and I've a soft spot for difficult to summon, underpowered monsters."

Ensui smirked as he drew for his turn. "Oh, there is, so just remember you asked for this! I activate Red-Eyes Fusion, sending Metal Thunder Demon to the graveyard from my deck and fusing it together with my Red-Eyes Black Metal Dragon!"

"Metal Thunder Demon?" Fushioh asked, his face lighting up as a lightning demon appeared, its exposed muscle body covered in angular black metal armor and two giant electrodes in on its back. "Oh, how novel! A Summoned Skull retrain using Metalmorph!"

"Let's see how now you think it is when this monster defeats you! Come forth, Red-Eyes Hellbolt Dragon!" Fire and lightning burst from the ground in of Ensui, shredding the darkness up to let his monster lumber its way free. Bulkier with vicious armor plating, the black metal was covered in glowing red energy while black lightning arced over it from the two wing-like electrodes jutting from its back. (3200/2500)

"A Black Skull Dragon retrain?" Fushioh watched the monster with eager curiosity. "It must be very powerful, given how you had to use two old monsters retrains to summon it!"

"Let me show you how powerful! First, Hellbolt Dragon lets me add an 'Inferno Fire Blast' from any location to my hand!" A card slid out of Ensui's deck into his waiting hand. "Then, since my fusion card made its name 'Red-Eyes Black Dragon', I can activate Inferno Fire Blast and deal you damage equal to its attack points! Burn, you bastard!"

The red lines pulsed, and the electricity danced its way into the dragon's throat, the monster spewing a volley of charged magma fireballs across the field.

"I reveal my set card - Damage Reactor! Your effect damage becomes zero and then I increase the attack of Mokey Mokey by eight hundred!" A barrier sprang up in front of Mokey Mokey, the fireballs impacting over its surface. Once they had dissipated, light flowed into the fairy. (300-1100)

"That's fine." Ensui smiled. "Hellbolt Dragon can destroy one card on the field for every Inferno Fire Blast in my graveyard. _Black_ _Magma_ _Shot_ _!_ "

The dragon fired again, the blast more electricity than magma and Fushioh grimaced. "I reveal Shade of Strings! Now Mokey Mokey cannot be destroyed this turn!" The attacks slammed into Mokey Mokey, the monster rocking back and forth in the inferno but otherwise offered no reaction. "Sorry, but my ace monster won't be leaving soon."

 _Damn, he dodged again._ Ensui glanced down at one of the remaining cards in his hand - Quick Attack would let his Hellbolt Dragon attack, ignoring the downside of Inferno Fire Blast that prevented it from doing so. But Mokey Mokey still had the Amulet of Affection and his dragon would lose the fight due to the eight level difference it had with the fairy.

 _He will come for me next turn and I need to prepare._ Grabbing another card from his hand, he swept it into his disk. "I set this card face-down and end my turn!"

"I draw." Fushioh did so. "Mokey Mokey attacks Hellbolt Dragon! And the level difference gives him four thousand extra attack points!"

The little fairy glowed again and squeezed with its stubby arms. The same glow sprang up around the targeted dragon and this time, there was the distinct sound of metal crumpling and being twisted out of shape as it compacted the dragon. (1100-5100)

Ensui staggered as the dragon exploded, pelting him with molten shards and stray sparks. "With the effect of Dragon Hatchery, I summon The Black Stone of Legend in defense mode!" A large, red egg bleeding soft black light appeared, nested in a bed of glowing coals. (0/0)

His other set card flipped up. "Return Ticket activates at the end of the Battle Phase! I destroy a card I control and revive a monster I lost while regaining the life point damage I took!" Hellbolt Dragon reappeared in a burst of lightning and Dragon Hatchery shattered. "And when Dragon Hatchery is destroyed, its effect goes off again! So now I summon Black Metal Dragon in defense mode as well!"

A tiny version of Red-Eyes appeared, so jagged and pointy looking one could have lost an eye just by looking at it too hard. (600/600)

"Oh, you are impressive!" Fushioh clapped his hands. "Now on your next turn, you can use the Stone to summon another Red-Eyes and equip with Black Metal to raise its attack to three thousand Not only that, but Hellbolt Dragon will get you another Inferno Fire Blast and if that doesn't kill me, you'll be able to destroy two of my cards with its second effect. That leaves me in a very precarious position, doesn't it? With only Mokey Mokey to help me out."

He selected a card from his hand. "I set two cards face-down and activate Take Over 5, sending the top five cards in my deck to the graveyard." He pulled the stack off his deck, pausing only to see what they were and then slid them into the graveyard slot. "Your move, Ensui."

"And it will be the last one! I draw!" Ensui snapped up the card, his confident grin faltering as he heard a heavy, metallic 'clang' from his side of the field. A quick look revealed Hellbolt Dragon was holding a massive axe in its hands, the metal behemoth sagging under the weight. "What is that?"

"Oh, I activated my Arms Regeneration quick-play spell and gave your Dragon my Axe of Fools from the graveyard. It gives it one thousand points, but that axe is so heavy that he cannot use his special abilities." Fushioh smiled at Ensui's annoyed and surprised expression even as the dragon's power rose. (3200-4200)

 _So now I can't search another Inferno Fire Blast or destroy cards. But that doesn't mean I'm out of options._ Ensui snapped up his hand. "I activate the effect of The Black Stone of Legend, tributing it to summon a level seven or lower Red-Eyes Monster from my deck!"

The egg exploded open, flames jetting upwards to transform and solidify into another Red-Eyes. But the flames didn't disperse and instead soaked into the wings to leave them wreathed in visible heat. "Red-Eyes Black Flare Dragon!" (2400/2000)

"Another new monster! You are full of surprises, young man." Fushioh said with an appreciative look, unable to hide his grin as the fire erupted along the body of the dragon. "Oh, it's a Gemini monster!"

"Yes! Now that I've normal summoned it again, I've unlocked its full power! But there's no such thing as too much power, so why don't I give it some more by equipping it with Black Metal Dragon and give it six hundred more points!" The metal dragon landed on the larger dragon's back, melting down over it and leaving with a wicked, armored look. (2400-3000/2000)

The Slifer Red pointed at Mokey Mokey. "Black Flare Dragon, roast that marshmallow! _Black Fire Bullet!"_

The dragon spat a fireball, the air hissing as the attack seared its way towards Mokey Mokey. Fushioh watched it approach and then pointed at his set card. "Go, Power Frame!" The trap lifted, glowing and shattering apart into a nexus of energy that locked into place around the little fairy. "It negates your attack and then my monster gains an equal amount of attack points!"

The fireball slammed into the energy cage. It did no damage, instead being soaked up by it, Mokey Mokey not even batting an eye as its power rose even higher. (1100-4100)

Ensui felt his fist clench and his eyes narrow. His Hellbolt Dragon still had a hundred more attack points, but Mokey Mokey still had the Amulet of Affection and would surpass that attack when battled. But at least now he had figured out Fushioh's deck. It focused on a single monster, like Mokey Mokey and was filled with cards to make that single monster a nigh-impassable wall.

 _And he's doing a good job. That little fairy can beat anything my deck can throw at it in a straight-up fight._ Ensui grimaced down at the contents of his hand. _And I haven't anything to get rid of his_ _spell_ _and trap cards. But I've still got moves left._ "At the end of the battle phase, Red-Eyes Black Flare Dragon deals you damage equal to its base attack! _Black Fire_ _Burst_ _!"_

He had the smug satisfaction to watch Fushioh's eyes widen in surprise as the dragon fired again, the flames exploding over him like a small bomb. (FLP: 2800-400)

He grabbed another card in his hand. "I set this card face-down and end my turn."

"That was unexpected, but pleasing." The smoke cleared to reveal Fushioh, his smile not wavering. Though his stretched, false appearance was looking even more so. "You've tried to finish me on every turn you've had. Few duelists can bring that kind of pressure to bear. I'm interested to see just how well you do when I stop holding back."

Ensui started. They were trading game-ending blows, and this guy was _holding_ back? What more could he do?

"Allow me to demonstrate - I draw!" Fushioh drew and paused as Ensui's set card lifted and glowed. "What's this?"

"The trap Threatening Roar!" Ensui smirked as his two dragons roared challenges at Mokey Mokey, the sheer force of the vocalization causing the little fairy drift backwards and Fushioh staggered. "You cannot attack this turn!"

Fushioh shrugged. "I suppose it'll be a surprise to you that I didn't intend to attack this turn." When Ensui started, he chuckled. "No, I've taken your measure, Ensui. You are a worthy duelist for Obelisk Blue. But now...I'm going to test your limits. I want to see what your so-called 'infinite potential' can lead!"

A card slid free for his graveyard. "During my Standby Phase, I can banish Take Over 5 to draw one card."

He slapped down a card, and a Kuriboh appeared in front of him. It was wearing a bandanna and eyepatch. "This monster is Kuribandit." (1000/700)

"Oh...kay? What's it do?"

"It lets me tribute it, then I draw five cards." Fushioh watched as the monster shattered and he yanked the cards from his deck.

Ensui felt his eyes widen as dark pressure washed down his body. _This guy's draw_ _power_ _...I've heard of duelists who are skilled enough that their will manifests itself as a presence in a_ _duel_ _! But for this guy to have it-_ "You draw five cards!? With no drawbacks?"

"Well, there is. I have to discard all monsters I pick up in there." Fushioh held them up, chuckling. "Alas, I have none...so let's begin the test, shall we?"

He pulled one card from the rest. "Card number one. Magic Barrier. Now Mokey Mokey is unaffected by spell effects for this round."

He held up as second and Ensui's dragons roared as an unseen force blew apart them. "Dark Hole is card number two and destroys all monsters in play."

Ensui grabbed for his deck. "You sent Black Metal Dragon to the graveyard, so now I can add a Red-Eyes related card to my hand!"

"While you do that, I will continue with my turn." A spell card materialized in front of Fushioh. "Card number three. The spell Kaiser Colosseum. Now the total number of monsters you can summon can't exceed the total I control. Here, one."

He swept the last three cards into his disk and they flanked Mokey Mokey. "I set these face-down. And end my turn."

Ensui reached for his deck and pulled the card free, watching as one of Fushioh's set cards lifted the moment the drawn card cleared the deck. "Ojama Trio?"

"A little loophole. The card specifies _you_ cannot summon monsters that exceed the limit, but I can. So Ojama Trio is card number four." Fushioh watched as three little squat Ojamas appeared in front of his opponent, blinking around in confusion. (0/1000x3)

He met Ensui's eyes, noting the worry appearing in the human's face. "Just so you know, card number five is Enemy Controller. I take it you know what that means?"

Ensui did. Thanks to the tokens on his field and Mokey Mokey on Fushioh's meant that he could not summon any of own monsters unless he somehow got rid of all three tokens. But if he _didn't_ do something about the tokens, on his next turn, Fushioh would use Enemy Controller to switch one to attack mode and attack with Mokey Mokey to win the duel.

And that wasn't all - anything he summoned wouldn't be able to beat Mokey Mokey in battle. And if he tried to use a monster like Hellbolt that inflicted effect damage, Enemy Controller would let Fusioh take control of that monster by tributing Mokey Mokey.

This wasn't a test, he realized with an edge of fear rising in him. It was a cage.

"Oh, don't back down now!" Fushioh called in encouragement. "I'm sure a talented man like yourself can get out of this situation? Mister 'Dark Hell Dragon'? Isn't that what your title is all about? Overcoming desperate odds and pain to prove yourself unconquerable?"

Ensui took a deep breath, feeling the wounds over his body ache and breathed out, letting the pain swell with his resolve. Even if his enemy was encouraging him, it didn't mean he wasn't wrong. "I'm not the third best student here for nothing, Fushioh and if you think this little gambit of yours will work, forget it! I've faced harder challenges on the basics test!"

He grabbed one card from the four he held. "I activate Shien's Spy! I give you control of one my monsters!"

Fushioh watched as one of the Ojama tokens drifted over to his side of the field. "Now why use that and not Creature Swap?"

"Because a lot of my cards require only dragons to work and there's no guarantee that my opponent will have any! But now that we both have two monsters, I can do two things! First, I shuffle one Red-Eyes Black Dragon back into my deck from the graveyard and then add The Black Stone of Legend from the graveyard to my hand!" He complied with the effects, shuffling the key monster into his deck and adding the stone to his hand. "Next, I activate Black Dragon Ritual, offering four stars worth of monsters! Like the tokens you've given me!"

The two Ojamas exploded, letting a baby Red-Eyes and the armored knight on its back descend into play. "I may take damage from those tokens, but this lets me ritual summon Paladin of Dark Dragon!" (1900/1200) (ELP: 2100-1500)

Ensui's deck churned and spat out a card. "But he will not be around for long! I can tribute him to summon a Red-Eyes monster from my deck! Red-Eyes Black Dragon!" The knight and mount vanished in a pillar of black fire that scattered to reveal the screeching, dark dragon that was Ensui's key monster. (2400/2000)

"I hate to be that person, but I have to interrupt to ask again. You have a copy of Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon in your deck. His effect would have let you revive Hellbolt and you'd have been able to try for effect damage and or destroy cards on my field." Fushioh asked, surprised as Ensui chuckled.

"I could have, but don't think I haven't forgotten about your Enemy Controller or your mystery set card! Using Hellbolt and Darkness Metal wouldn't have achieved anything! Instead, I'm going to activate Dragon's Mirror!" The Red-Eyes on his field vanished as Ensui pulled it from his disk and held it up alongside the two original Red-Eyes in his graveyard. "I banish three Red-Eyes Black Dragons to fusion summon the monster that gave me my name! Black Dragon Emperor!"

The darkness behind Ensui shuddered, then it warped and rent as a monolithic dragon ripped its way free. Three times the size of Red-Eyes, three-times the dark power, three times the roaring hellfires that seemed to leak from its armored body. Horns twisted in an odd crown over its head, the dragon's malevolent red eyes daring all to challenge its dominion. (3600/3000)

"My word…" Fusioh stared up at the fusion in something akin to fascinated surprise. Although Black Dragon Emperor was eyeing him up like he was his next lunch and its roar sent his clothing and hair billowing back, he looked more eager than anything else. "If I had a heart, it'd be beating a mile a minute in excitement!"

Ensui frowned at the odd comment, but let it go as he folded his arms in triumphant confidence. "This dragon is the most powerful my deck can create and it'll be the one that crushes you and your Mokey Mokey."

"You have such faith in it, so let's put it to the test!" Fushioh snapped his fingers and his set card lifted revealing it to be Enemy Controller. "I use my spell to-"

"To do nothing! _King's Negation_!" Black Dragon Emperor slammed a clawed foot capable of crushing a small car down and the ground shook in violent response. The quick-play exploded apart. "By shuffling a Red-Eyes monster from my graveyard or that is banished into the deck, my Emperor can negate your spell and trap cards!"

Fushioh's eyes widened. "That means my remaining set card won't work and neither will any equip cards I draw for Mokey Mokey…"

"That's right and while Emperor is weaker than Mokey Mokey, I can return another Red-Eyes monster to the deck to prevent its destruction in battle or by card effect! So Emperor! Destroy his Ojama token! _Inferno Hell Blast!_ " The fusion dragon spread its titanic wings, hellish light gathering along the lines there and flowing into its chest and throat. The light built up in intensity and ferocity, the dragon's open mouth a furnace of nightmarish heat.

Then it fired, the force of the blast causing the dragon's neck to recoil. The magma-like fireball incinerated the screaming and panicking Ojama long before it hit. When it impacted, the ground shook again, and the explosion roiled over Fushioh's field like it was alive, a small inferno that devoured everything in sight. (FLP: 400-100)

Ensui laughed as he watched the flames burn, their eagerness reflected in his eyes. "How do the fires of hell feel? This is the power of the dragon whose potential is limitless!"

When there was no response above the roaring blaze, he held up a card. "I'll use Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy you Amulet of Affection and turn down the heat a little."

The howling wind shot across the field and blew the equip spell apart, Mokey Mokey still unbothered by the loss of his equip nor the flames trying to cook him. But what Ensui saw next in the blaze made his grin drop away, and he felt cold, despite the heat. "What-"

Standing in Fushioh's spot was a skeleton, so white it was eerie, with markings and symbols carved straight into the bones. The borrowed Ra Yellow Uniform was burning away in the attack, leaving him looking slender and hollow. Or, it should have. Yet there was something about this skeleton and his sightless gaze fixed upon Ensui that left the duelist feeling fear crawl up his spine. The undead being's presence was swelling, spreading out in a dark cold wave not dissimilar to how the Darkness Game felt.

Somehow, Ensui could tell that the skeleton was _furious._

Fushioh was motionless, still as the grave that he had crawled out of. Empty eye sockets riveted on the student and when he spoke, it was a hollow, disappointed voice filled with loathing. "You _damn_ fool…"

That was not what Ensui was expecting, his fear vanishing for a moment. "What are you talking about?"

"You could have beaten me on that turn. You used Shien's Spy, didn't you? All you had to do was switch the _goddamn token to attack position_ , then play the card." Fushioh lifted a bony finger and jabbed it straight at Ensui. "With Black Emperor Dragon's protection and negation abilities, I could have done nothing to stop it. You could have _won!_ "

Ensui frowned, realizing he had failed to notice that obvious shot to victory. "What does it matter? You can't stop my Black Emperor Dragon, anyway and I can defeat you next turn." He wouldn't let this skeleton's anger throw off his confidence. Black Emperor Dragon was the key to victory. _And if you do somehow get it to leave the field, once it does, I can summon any_ _Red-Eyes_ _monster_ _from my deck._ _Red-Eyes_ _Darkness_ _Metal_ _Dragon is the best choice, because it can just revive Emperor!_

"You idiot, there will not _be_ a next turn for you." Fushioh sighed, the action almost rattling his whole body. "I got my hopes up and this is what I got. So close...and yet so far."

"Hey!" Ensui snapped. "What are you prattling on about, Shakespeare? You're the one who losing!"

"A real duelist would have never made such a misplay, Ensui. But it appears this is the limit of your potential. I have judged it…" Fushioh tugged the top card of his deck free, the Duel Academy student once again shivering from the dark presence that came with the motion. "And found it _lacking."_

He glanced at the card, then dropped it into his graveyard. "Mokey Mokey attacks your Emperor and I discard Honest to boost his attack points by your dragon's. Since it's not a spell or trap effect, King's Negation won't work and as you have no more cards on the field, you can't stop this attack." Mokey Mokey glowed with power. (4100-7700)

"What-how did you draw that card-" Ensui watched in horror as Mokey Mokey's glow spread to his dragon and like before, it warped and twisted as great forces began crumple it like a piece of paper that was about to thrown in the bin. The dragon gave off strangled roars, fire and blood spurting from the broken pieces of its body before it shattered into pixels. (ELP: 0)

The duelist turned his gaze back to Fushioh, glaring daggers at the skeleton. "This isn't over, Fushioh! I-"

"By the rights of the Darkness Game, I now inflict a Penalty Game on you as I am the victor." Fushioh said in a sad, annoyed voice. "You may now burn to death, 'Dark Hell Dragon'."

"What - burn - are you-" Ensui's protest stopped as his foot splashed in something and he glanced down to see he was standing in a pool of blood. Blood that had come from his Black Emperor Dragon. Blood that was akin to the fires of hell.

As if it had been waiting for him to realize that fact, the blood ignited all at once into raging black flames that towered over Ensui and he screamed as they ignited his clothing.

Fushioh watched as the youth burned and shook his head.

"What a waste…"

TTTTTT

Everything was dark.

Lyrius had lost track of time, the endless expanse of darkness stretching in all directions without form or definition or clarity. He was 'standing' and that gave him perspective, but with nothing else in this place to relate to, he could be standing upside down and just not know of it.

Lyrius could see himself, but that wasn't doing much good, either. Nor could he feel the darkness he was standing on or running his fingers through. And walking just produced the feeling he was moving going nowhere. Summoning magic did nothing at all as it went sailing off into the darkness and spent itself.

But he could feel something in the darkness surrounding him. Something very familiar. In fact, so familiar that he took him a moment to puzzle out that this darkness felt very much like himself.

He was well-versed in meditation enough to achieve a sense of 'oneness' with his surroundings and sharpen his focus and awareness by extending himself. But this felt different. Instead of extending himself and losing a sense of individuality, this felt...tight and constraining. Like the surrounding darkness was pressing in at him.

 _Like an isolation chamber._ He realized and grimaced. _Dracula has outdone herself._ The vampire had a unique attitude towards things that leaned towards layering everything in mystique and questions. Things that would force a person to think outside their usual comfort zones that also doubled as a way for Dracula to amuse herself as they flailed about.

With that putting everything perspective, it was easy to conclude that Dracula's training was to force Lyrius to confront himself. By removing everything of the outside world, Lyrius had nothing to do but gaze into his own soul. Though how she expected him to do anything or learn from such an experience remained out of his grasp. He had spent the last five years doing nothing but dwelling on his failures and his past with no result except misery, pain and exhaustion.

The darkness offered nothing to him and Lyrius let out a rare sigh. He had no sense of awareness in this place nor sensation of time, so the only real measure of how long he had spent in here was how much patience he was exhausting.

"Is there any point to this?" He asked into the darkness. "Or am I to sit here and fall into madness from talking to nothing but myself?"

"Oh, but you are never alone. For is a shadow never without its source?"

He could never forget that voice. Lyrius felt the familiar shiver at hearing it as he turned, the loyal subverscience, the dark wanting, and the searing empty ache all warring with him.

The two inches she had in height might as well be two thousand just from the sheer presence she held. She wore no adornments for they would have only detracted from the majesty and pride self-evident in her being. Golden hair tumbled down her back in graceful waves to just above her ankles, a backdrop for a sleek dark gown that was too perfect to be anything but magic, smooth flawless skin meaning only the cold smirk of her full lips and the twisting gray-black storm clouds of her eyes could draw attention and make one feel afraid for daring to try.

"Iris." A name, a pledge and a caution to his Queen. It was heavy on his tongue.

"Your guard is up. Wary of tricks on the vampire's part? Deceit, perhaps?" The smirk sharpened with knowing. "Or, as is only proper, you fear me?"

"I do not fear that which I love." Lyrius responded without hesitation.

"No one does, and that is thought to be a good thing. Yet those that love us are those who can inflict the greatest harm upon us. People are small, petty and cruel even when in love." She clucked her tongue at him. "Do not forget that just because you sheath a dagger does not mean its edges are less sharp."

"You would never betray me of your own volition." Lyrius said. "No matter how volcanic your anger or wrathful your sorrow, you held yourself to your oaths just as I did."

"There are other pains that I can inflict outside taking another to my bed." The Shadow Queen stepped close, trailing a perfect nail down a thin scar that ran from his right shoulder to his left hip. "Visceral and real, this one left you soaked in blood. Had you been anyone else, it would have killed you. And all because I got angry that you disagreed with me."

"It was a major argument, not a petty round of bickering." Lyrius said, trying to ignore the fresh memories of pain the scar brought up. The magic strike had done more than cut him, it had blown him into a wall. "And what hurt more was the look of absolute horror and regret upon your face afterwards."

A lilting laugh, one he'd heard so many times before when she wanted the person she was talking with to know that they were missing something obvious. "How sweet that thought is, but it is only just sugar-coating the truth. And the truth is so bitter it may as sharp as a blade."

"The truth." Lyrius scoffed. "That is something I am all too aware of. I live with it every day."

"Living with it and knowing it are two different things." Her hand cupped the side of his face. "So, my servant. I will enlighten you upon that which you have ignored so."

Her touch was cool and silken as Lyrius leaned into it. It had been too long since he had felt this. "And what truth shall that be?"

"The truth of how I killed you."

TTTTTTT

"You think you have a greater understanding of pain and suffering, Castiel?" Harrison asked with a hard smirk. "Then why don't I give you some new knowledge and add 'humiliation' to that list? Vergil! Slay Potential LV6!"

Vergil moved into a half-crouch as he gripped his weapon's hilt in preparation to draw it.

"I activate my set card-" Castiel's eyes widened as the card refused to life and then Vergil was slashing through his monster's waist. Potential gasped as his body separated into two halves and then shattered apart. (CLP: 3200-2900)

"When Vergil attacks, you cannot chain card effects. And when he slays a monster, I can add a Devil Arms from any location to my hand. So I'll pick up Devil Arms - Beowulf and equip it to him!" Silver gauntlet and greaves glowing with white light appeared on Vergil, the demon slayer not even noticing their weight. "They raise his attack by another seven hundred!" (3300-4000)

Harrison pointed to the air above Vergil where a single mote of light was hanging. "When my Demon Slayers kill a monster, they gain one Devil Trigger Counter."

Castiel snapped out his hand, the blood tree sprouting from the ground again and reforming into the original, gaunt Potential. "Whenever you defeat a Potential monster, I summon the level zero version!"

"What good does that do you? That monster has no points to speak of and all of your Level Up cards are in the graveyard." Harrison snorted and folded his arms as he had no other cards in his hand. "I end my turn."

"I draw." Plucking the card free, Castiel added it to his hand and pointed at Potential. "During my Standby Phase, this monster adds one Level Up from any location to my hand! And I can banish my Rookie Trainer to do the same."

Grabbing the two spell cards as his graveyard slid them out, he tossed down the card he drew for the turn. "I summon Ace Trainer in attack mode!" A new version of the ball-cap wearing youth, his clothing overall more flashy than before. (1400/1400)

He held up a Level Up. "Now I evolve Potential once again!"

The transform was just as intriguing as it had been the first time. Potential threw back his head and howled, white skin splitting as grotesque muscle bulged out underneath with silver fur sprouting from the wounds to cover his body. Bone popped out to form knuckle dusters while his feet become cloven and a thick, whip-like tail lashed around so quick that the arced blade at the end hissed. "Potential LV 4!" (2900/0)

"Hmmph. I see it now." Harrison watched as Potential pawed at the ground and slammed his oversized fist into his palm. "Your monster evolves into one type of monster cards in this game each time you level it up. I assume this form is the Beast monster variant?"

"Your guess is correct, not that it'll save you. When Potential LV 4 is summoned, all of your monsters go to defense position!" Potential roared and punched the ground, the shockwaves rocking the playing field and forcing Vergil to drop to a knee as he steadied himself. "And he also deals piercing damage! Attack! _Beast Potential!"_

Potential burst forwards, throwing a right hook at Vergil that would pulp the demon slayer's head. There a shockwave of dust and darkness as the blow impacted, Potential's smirk fading as he realized Vergil was still there.

 _(Did you think such a blow could kill me?)_ Vergil smirked, Yamato's sheath not even creaking despite the titanic fist it was blocking. _(Utter foolishness.)_

"For every equip card Vergil has, he can avoid being destroyed because of battle once." Harrison said, grunting as the backlash of the attack hit him. But he was smirking. "So your brute strength is useless here." (HLP: 3400-2500)

"Is that so? Then how about I try something else! The effect of Ace Trainer allows me to activate Level Up as if it were a quick-play spell card!" Castiel slammed it into his disk and Potential shuddered as his beast features sloughed off him in as dead flesh and rotten fur. His blood pooled out as well, draining down the lithe body in rivers. Wings erupted from his back in a flurry of motion, scattering tattered white feathers everywhere. A crown of thorns appeared as well and Potential seemed to glow with a seraphic radiance. "Potential LV7!" (2500/2500)

( _A fallen angel to fight a devil…?)_ Vergil tossed his head in dismissal of the new arrival. ( _If you feel that thing will save you, then you have been praying to the wrong god.)_

"You're the one who is going to need saving, Vergil! Potential LV7 can negate the effect of any card I wish during either player's turn!" Castiel and Potential laughed as the scattered feathers glowed, zipping towards Vergil like iron filings to a magnet. The demon hunter grunted in pain as they piled on him, sparking with energy and dropping him to a knee again. _"Angel Potential"_

The mutated monster reached a hand up as he stalked towards Vergil and a flaming sword sprang into his grasp. He made a sign of the cross over the weakened demon hunter, not even flinching when Vergil spat in his face. Fire streaked through the air and then Vergil's headless body collapsed to the ground before shatter. "And with that, Dark Kaiser, your demon hunter is dead."

Harrison's fist clenched so tight it was white, a frigid glare fixed on the vampire. Then, without looking at his deck, he yanked the card off. "I set one monster in defense mode."

"That's all you can do, isn't it? If you topdeck a magic or trap card, Potential will just negate it!" Castiel drew for his turn. "I use Potential's effect to pick up Level Up and then he'll attack your set monster! _Angel Potential!_ "

The flaming sword melted through the set monster like it was a hot knife through butter, the pieces blowing apart. Harrison watched it happen and smirked as the pixels gathered on to his field. "You just killed Demon Slaying Apprentice and when you do, I can summon one of my Demon Slayers! Return, Vergil!"

Castiel frowned as Vergil reappeared, looking no worse for the were despite having died. "I use Potential's negation effect!"

Vergil scowled as he suffered another assault of feathers again, falling to a knee again. _(That's fine. I don't need a weapon to beat your monster. Unless he's got another form to fight me with?)  
_

The vampire bit back the urge to sigh. _He's more right than he knows. Potential's strength comes from his utility, not brute power. And the beast form is the only one that surpasses Vergil's attack score._ "I switch Ace Trainer to defense mode and then set one card face-down." The youth knelt and crossed his arms over his chest as a brown-backed card appeared behind him.

Harrison drew. "Vergil attacks Potential! _Summoned Swords!"_ Vergil held up his hand, light snapping into existence around that elongated into a half-dozen energy swords. He smirked and dropped his hands, the swords volleying towards Potential in perfect unison.

"Reveal Level Up!" The card lifted, Potential once again bathed in its glow. Angelic features morphed into a fire that bathed the ritual monster before it resolved into glittering gold and green scales. Claws, twisted horns and great leathery wings followed as a tail lashed out to scatter the oncoming swords. "Potential LV2!" (2200/3000)

"The Dragon form is a defensive one? How unexpected." Harrison eyed the new transformation. "I set one card face-down. End of turn."

Castiel drew, then added another Level Up from his graveyard to his hand. "Thanks to my monster's new ability, I can draw again." He snapped up another card and bared a fang in a smirk. "Monster Reborn activates!"

In a flash of light, the muscle-bound beast form of Potential was back. "Let's see if it sticks this time, shall we? _Beast Potential!"_

Vergil watched the monster lunge towards him, not batting an eye as Potential vanished and then came stumbling back out of the same space in the opposite direction.

"Another Negate Attack." Harrison slid the trap into his graveyard.

"Good for you. But judging by your deck, I doubt it has much in the way of defensive cards." Castiel set a card, watching it appear behind his monsters. "End of turn."

Harrison drew. "I activate the continuous spell Altar To The Time God!" The card appeared in front of him, transforming into an Atlas-like golden statue bracing a giant hourglass on its back. "This card lets me pay increments of five hundred to add a Devil Arm from any location to my hand!" (HLP: 2500-2000)

He caught the card that slid out of his graveyard and then Vergil smirked as Yamato was in his hands again. (2800-3300)

"My Altar allows me to pay life points to give Vergil a Devil Trigger Counter!" Harrison didn't flinch as a bloody red aura lit for a moment around and Vergil gain a mote of light above his head. "Vergil! Devil Trigger!" (HLP: 2000-1500)

( _My power...will be absolute.)_ Energy exploded around Vergil, transforming into a demonic version of himself with his coat now like armor and his skin black and rocky as coal.

"When Devil Triggered with Yamato, Vergil can attack all monsters you control! _Judgement Cut!"_ Vergil's body blurred with motion Castiel couldn't quite follow as the demon drew his sword. Then he was resheathing the weapon with purposeful slowness. When it clicked in, glimmers erupted around the vampire's three monsters and they exploded into pieces. (CLP: 2800-2300)

Blood gouted from the remains of the monsters, reforming into the lanky, gaunt form of Potential. "I revive the level zero form!"

"Weren't you listening?" Harrison asked as Vergil's katana slashed through the air again, the blade carving Potential into two neat pieces even from a distance. "He can attack _all_ monsters you control."

"When Ace Trainer is destroyed, I can add a 'Level' card from any location to my hand!" Castiel caught the card his deck spat out.

"So what? Level decks only run a few evolutionary lines and I've destroyed most of them. And your best monster, no matter its form, has fallen to Vergil." Harrison smirked as Vergil dropped out of Devil Trigger. "This duel is over."

Castiel growled, revealing his fangs. "You've been talking like that since the duel started, human and yet the only advantage you seem to have in this game is ego."

Harrison's eyes widened behind his glasses at the other duelist's appearance and words. "You...you're not human."

"I haven't been for many years now." Castiel's growl morphed into a cruel smirk as he saw Harrison's fingers curl into trembling fists and Vergil's eyes narrow. "Oh...you've encountered vampires before, have you?"

"It wasn't an encounter, it was a nightmare." Harrison's face was almost as white as his hair with rage. "Now that I know what you are, I'll turn you into ashes!"

"Wow, I think that's more emotion than I thought you capable of." Castiel reached into his pocket and produced an Orichalcos stone. "Now you've got me curious. I want to know how that encounter went…"

"There's no point in telling anything to a dead beast like you!" Harrison stared angrily, but stopped as the sound of a door slamming and sneakered footsteps echoed around the darkness.

"Oh, sounds like someone got home from school." Castiel held up the teal stone between thumb and forefinger. It was giving off a soft glow that grew brighter and brighter until Harrison was forced to shield his face. "Let's see what happened…"

TTTTTTT

" _Mom, Dad, I'm home!" A much younger Harrison threw his backpack onto a chair with far more force than necessary, the bag actually bouncing out of it to smack into the floor. "Whoops, sorry!"_

 _But there wasn't anyone around to hear his apology. He glanced around for a minute, then shrugged and left the bag where it was. All it had was homework, anyway, and he'd had enough of school today._

 _The living room was just as empty as the kitchen and for a moment, the boy wondered if he should look for a note. His parents both worked, and it wasn't unusual they could be late. But thoughts of that were driven out of his head as he spied a small stack of shiny foil on the coffee table. "My cards came! Awesome!"_

 _Harrison dropped to his knees before he hit the table, yanking one of the packs up and tearing into the wrapping. A huge grin split his face as he began to thumb through the stack of cards. "Awesome! I got Monster Reborn, Summoned Skull and -! Oh, no way! They made Vergil into a card!?"_

 _He tilted the ritual monster around, marvelling at how the light ribboned off of the_ _holofoil_ _. "This is so cool! I wonder if I got the ritual spell, too!"_

 _Something red dripped on the top of the card before he could dig through the rest and he frowned. "Hey, what gives?"_

 _He wiped the drip off, the frown growing as he realized it was_ _kind_ _of sticky. But he didn't have any juice or anything. Not even water. So what was it?_

 _Another droplet fell, and he yanked the card out of the way just in time, only for a third to land squarely on the picture. Harrison sulked as he wiped at it, hoping that the card wasn't really ruined. Then he looked up._

 _His eyes widened, and he heard a distant, painful noise only to realize it was him. He was screaming, screaming, screaming at the sight of his parents and pet cat all pinned to the ceiling with blood dripping from punctures in their necks._

 _He finally stopped when his throat was too raw to continue._

" _I'm always amazed at how such a small human can make such loud noises."_

 _Harrison tore his gaze from the bodies of his family to find a figure leaning with_ _gloating_ _casualness against the doorframe. He was dressed in tattered clothes, fingernails more like claws and a lot of blood around his mouth._

 _His smile revealed fangs. "Tough luck you got home so quick, kid. Just a few minutes later and I'd have been gone."_

 _"Wha-what…" Harrison stumbled backwards, tripping over his own feet and staring in horror as the bloodied man was suddenly looming in front of him._

 _A dirty hand hoisted him off the floor by his neck, the man's breath smelling of blood and raw meat. "Now I_ _gotta_ _drink you, too…"_

 _Harrison found it in him to scream again even as the Vergil card in his hand began to glow._

TTTTTTT

"Well, that one was certainly a showboater. I mean, taking the time to nail the family to the ceiling?" Castiel's lips curled in a sneer as Harrison's whole body trembled in unspent rage. "I would have just broken your legs and made you watch. Fear and despair do flavor blood so well…"

"You monster…" Red flickered around Harrison before lining his body like flames. "How dare you talk about my family so casually when bastards like you murdered them!"

"Murder? What a harsh word." Castiel was more amused than intimidated by the rage on Harrison's face. "When you eat a hamburger, do you think the cow was murdered? Or is it just food?"

"Bastard-!"

"So your family died. Too bad, so sad. You think that makes you special? Unique? Justified in becoming some kind of Sasuke clone?" The vampire laughed. "You're just one among the many, little Kaiser! Your tragedy isn't even a footnote in the grand scheme of things!"

He lifted a finger to point at Vergil. "The only thing of note was you lucked out and were able to summon a Duel Spirit as a partner! And even that is more a curiosity than anything else!"

"Shut your mouth!" Harrison snapped, the red energy flaring again. "You vampires always talk like you're some kind of superior race, but you all turned into the same pile of ash when Vergil and I were through with you!"

"Oh...you've killed other vampires, have you?" Castiel shook his head. "Do you think that makes you strong? Wise? Powerful?" His lips curled in a disapproving sneer. "I think it makes you lucky."

"Tough talk from the monster who been on the defensive since this duel started." Harrison said in a cold tone.

"I told you before that you can't even begin to understand pain and suffering, boy! Anyone can have a tragedy happen to them! Only a fool would think that using that tragedy as a source of strength would make them strong!" Castiel slammed his drawn card into his disk. "If you want real strength from suffering, then learn that true suffering happens when you have the farthest to fall in defeat!"

Harrison's eyes widened as he saw the card materialize. "Rebellion!"

"One monster on my opponent's field attacks them directly! So lose by your partner's own hand, human!" Castiel laughed as Vergil spun on his heel, blood spraying from Harrison's chest as Yamato was slashed across him faster than the eye could follow. (HLP: 0)

 _(Harrison!)_ Vergil stared in horror at what he had done, his face tightening in rage as he exploded into another Devil Trigger and whirled. ( _I'll have your head for that, vampire!)_

Castiel caught Vergil's wrist before the katana could swing and blood spurt from the demon's mouth as the other hand knifed into his chest. Castiel savored the surprise he could see in those glowing red eyes as Yamato clattered to the ground. "Didn't think I could touch a Duel Spirit, could you? That's how you killed the other vampires, I'm sure. Hit them with an enemy they couldn't hit back. Clever...but I'm not most vampires."

Teal light flared in Castiel's good eye as he sank his fangs into Vergil's neck, piercing the stone-like skin of the devil as if it were nothing. Vergil coughed up more blood, his body reverting back to normal as he went limp in Castiel's grip.

"Vergil…! No…!" Harrison tried to raise, but the blood pouring from his chest and fire in his lungs kept from doing anymore than reaching out weakly to stop the attack. "Stop it…!"

Castiel ignored him, drinking and draining as the teal glow in his eye saturated the air around his body. Vergil thrashed and gasped in a vain struggle before his own body began to dissolve away into fragments, everything from his hair to his coat crumbling away like sand.

Harrison coughed, blood trailing from his lips as he watched in horror as his partner crumpled to the ground. Castiel's foot kicked the Duel Spirit clean in half as the vampire advanced. "You monster… how.."

"How? How, you ask? It is because I have truly suffered, truly known pain and become stronger for it." Castiel voice was light with conversational menace. "I am not a mewling human teenager, angsting over a tragedy that happens every day and thinking that somehow makes me special."

He grabbed Harrison by the hair, yanking the teen's head back so he could look him in the eyes. "I am a _vampire._ And that single word means that the gap between us might as well be the gap between heaven and earth itself."

"Your nothing but a parasite…" Harrison coughed, blood spraying from his mouth.

"No, I am a predator." Castiel corrected. "And you, little Kaiser, like your family before you, like every single warm walking bag of blood on this planet that calls itself 'human', are _prey._ "

Then he sank his fangs into the teen's neck and tore it out.

TTTTTTT

 _Sanzo held up another card. "R - Righteous Justice destroys spells and traps equal to the number of heroes I have in play!" DNA Surgery exploded into dust and Weevil paled. "This is the end, Weevil! Attack and destroy his Insect Queen! Hurricane Slash!"_

 _Typhoon shot forwards with a single beat of his wings, flashing past Insect Queen in a blur. For a moment, it looked like the Queen might survive - then slash wounds opened_ _up_ _all over her body and she_ _began to fall_ _apart in a spray of gore and guts. All of it reflected in_ _Weevi_ _l_ _'s wide-eyed look of horror._

He staggered as Typhoon slashed across his chest. "It's not - it's not over! Reveal Half Unbreak! My Queen can't die in battle and it halves all the damage I take from the fight!" (WLP: 2100-700)

The Queen screeched in anger at her pain as her body stopped crumbling, limbs flailing in blind anger and smashing Typhoon across the field so hard he crashed through a Neo-Skyscraper store front.

 _His_ _monster_ _is responding to his anger._ Sanzo's danger sense flickered again as Weevil glared at him with murder in his eyes, fist clenching so tight it was white. Typhoon landed back in front of him and Sanzo took a steadying breath. _Typhoon is one of my most powerful monsters and his second ability will help me win this_ _duel_ _just as much as his first one._ "I set one card face-down and end my turn!"

Weevil drew, breathing hard in near-rage as the wound across his chest throbbed. "I'm through pussy-footing around, hero bastard! I'll kill you this turn!"

"So you say. But all the weak villains lose their tempers when the odds turn against them." Sanzo said, his eyes reflecting the calm confidence he felt. "You can never embrace the possibility of losing until it's far too late."

"All I've done for most my life is lose! It's time I win and I'll make your corpse my first stepping stone!" Weevil held up a card. "I sacrifice my Ultimately Mutated Insect Queen and the two Insect Monster tokens to summon Empress Infestation! _From the far reaches of evolution comes the ultimate life-form! Die in agony and give your flesh to a new majesty!_ "

Insect Queen froze in mid-motion, the only noise the ichor dripping from her wounds. Then light gouted out of the holes, the Queen giving of a dying screech as she blew apart from the inside. From the remains of her body arose the eerie, twisted calm form. Empress Infestation's wings flapped slow, her three sets of hands locked in a prayer pattern and the lines on her body pulsing like a heartbeat she twisted her head at Sanzo and his monster. (?/0)

Sanzo felt his whole body tense as he locked gazes with the alien creature, his danger sense screaming a warning at him. "That monster...she's really dangerous!"

"You're damn right she is and I'll start by showing you how! I activate Necromancy! Now it summons four random monsters from your graveyard!" Weevil sniggered. "Consider it your farewell present!"

Sanzo frowned as four flashes of light appeared on his field, resolving into Edgeman, Burstinatrix, Thunder Giant and the dashing, cape-wearing golden form who could only be Captain Gold in defense position. (2600/1300) (1200/700) (2400/1500) (2100/800)

"Now I activate my Empress' effect!" Weevil grinned as cards fell out of his graveyard. "I banish level seven or higher bugs from the graveyard and then for each one, I destroy one of your monsters!" He held up his four cards, showing Insect Queen, her mutated form, Carrion Spell and Danaus. " _Soul Infestation!"_

Sanzo gasped as the four heroes summoned by Necromancy all cried out in pain, their bodies warping and twisted as insect limbs burst free of their real ones while fleshy growths littered with compound eyes and clacking mandibles erupted from their heads and chests. "What have you done to them!?"

"Empress Infestation steals the corpses of your monsters and makes them her servants!" Weevil couldn't hide his gleeful, manic grin as the four mutants drifted over his field and turned to face their former owner. A pale glow suffused them and absorbed into Empress Infestation as if the alien bug was breathing their very life force. "And her attack score becomes their combined total!" (8100/0)

"You coward!" Sanzo cut his angry retort short as Typhoon dropped to his knees, one hand clutching at his throat as he wheezed in pain. "Typhoon! No!" (2800-400)

"Oops, did I forget to mention that when a monster summoned by Necromancy is destroyed, all the other monsters you have lose six hundred points for each one? Guess not!" Weevil laughed, his grin full of malice as the tattooed magic on his body light up. "But now you die, hero bastard! Empress Infestation attacks! _Divine Consumption!_ "

The lines all over Empress Infestation's body lit up as she twisted her hands into a new pattern, a golden glow flaring around her. The same glow appeared around Typhoon, warping space so hard that it twisted the hero's cry of pain and tore him apart. Sanzo's scream, though wasn't even close to being drowned out as the air around him rent with the Empress' power.

Weevil's triumphant laughter was the only thing louder. "How does it feel to be torn apart, scrub? I'd offer to say a prayer over your body, but I don't think there's anything left!"

"Don't celebrate...just yet…"

Weevil stopped in mid-laugh, his eyes narrowing. "No fucking way…"

Sanzo was still standing, his school uniform a mess of shredded material and blood stains. A wound on the side of his head was pouring fresh blood down his face and he was swaying, but upright. Alongside him was a trap card. "Hero Soul...since the damage from the battle with Typhoon would have defeated me, my life points become 100 instead." (SLP: 100)

A strangled noise erupted from the bug duelist, the lines on his body throbbing in anger. He looked ready to spit fire and almost did when he pointed a damning finger at the Bubbleman on Sanzo's field. "And how the hell did he get there?"

Sanzo pointed up at the colored sky above them. "Neo-Skyscraper. When an Elemental Hero is destroyed, I can summon another one from my deck whose level is lower…"

 _God fucking dammit!_ Weevil hissed to himself, unaware at how insect-like the noise was. _If I could attack with the monsters I stole, anyone of them could finish him! But their corruption means all they do is protect Empress!_ "I end my turn! Hurry up and die already!"

Sanzo ignored him and the flecks of blood he was leaving on his deck as he drew. And the fact that the world was swimming in and out of focus. "Activate Legacy of the Hero...return two fusions to the deck, draw three.."

Trembling fingers pulled Typhoon and Ignition Spark out of his graveyard and into his deck before he drew three more cards. The world rippled again, and he slumped to one knee, catching himself as the ground rose to meet him

"Just accept that you lost, roll over and die!" Weevil shouted with a stamp of his foot. "You can't beat me! I won!"

"The hero never gives in to evil, Weevil…" Sanzo lurched back to his feet and held up another card. "I summon Avian in attack mode." With a beat of his wings and a flurry of feathers, the green armored hero descended into view. "Now...Contact Fuse Bubbleman and Avian!"

The two heroes vanished, replaced an armored sailor hero with an anchor-shaped mask on. He held an anchor and accompanying length of chain in his hand. "Elemental Hero Mariner!" (1400/1000)

"My attack must have killed your brain cells, because that thing is nowhere strong enough to attack Empress!" Weevil clenched his fist as Mariner twirled his weapon above his head. "Why don't you get it!?"

"You're the one who doesn't get it!" Sanzo could feel cold seeping through his body and every exhale took a portion of his strength with it. He could find the energy to shove his last card in his hand into disk face-down. "Since I set a card...Mariner can attack you directly! _Anchors...Aweigh_!"

"What? No!" Weevil stared in horror as Mariner leapt into the air, above his row of monsters and hurled the anchor down at him with a battle cry. _No no no no no no! I can't lose to some bastard_ _hero_ _brat! I'm going to get stronger and I'm going to find and kill that Lyrius bastard!_

The anchor hissed through the air with lethal intent.

 _I'm going to find that Wheeler bitch and make her kneel before me!_

Weevil could see the anchor drawing close, the edges glinting with sharpness.

 _I'm going to become the most powerful_ _duelist_ _in the world!_

The rattling of the chain was drowning everything out except his own fearful heartbeat.

 _I_ _refuse to lose here!_ _I_ _refuse!_ _I_ _refuse!_ _I_ _refuse!_ _I_ _refuse!_ _I_ _-_

The anchor crashed to the ground a few feet in front of him with an almost mournful noise.

Weevil stared at it for a long breath, unsure if the attack had connected, then checked his life point counter.

(SLP: 100) (WLP: 700)

The bug duelist lifted his head to look across the way, finding Sanzo collapsed on the ground, unmoving as blood spread from underneath his body.

The teen was dead.

"I..I won…"

Weevil didn't feel like he had and it was that, more than anything, that ignited the frustrated rage inside him which erupted in a ferocious howl.

He lashed out, pummeling the pavement of Skyscraper so hard it cracked and split and became smeared with blood from his knuckles.

"I won! I won! I won! I won! I won! I won! I won!" The mantra was pouring from him in blind fury, frothing at his lips and Weevil screamed in tormented self-loathing before he collapsed onto his hands and knees, hot, angry tears blurring the sight of the world.

But he could still Sanzo's unmoving body and his rage ignited anew as he charged the distance between them. It was half-tackle, half-body slam that flipped the corpse onto its back and Weevil straddled him.

"You stupid son of a bitch! Aren't you supposed to be the hero? Heroes are supposed to fight impossible odds!" When he didn't get a response, Weevil grabbed Sanzo's shirt and glared, shaking. "What kind of bastard pussies out like that? Huh!?"

Those dead eyes, serene and dark, mocked him in silence.

Weevil screamed in rage and began to pummel that arrogant face with his fists. "C'mon! Get up! Get up and fight! Give me one of those stupid speeches about how cheaters never win and the power of friendship and do _something_!"

Silence was the only response and the blows' fury increased. Blood was splashing on his coat, his face, his hair from the damage he was inflicting, but Weevil felt no urge to stop. Just to keep hitting. "Tell me about the goddamn heart of the cards, call me a cockroach, I don't care, just get up and fight so I can win!"

At some point, his stingers had come out and bits of flesh and shavings of bone were joining the blood spattering him. _"_ I have to win! I _have_ to win! _I HAVE TO WIN!"_

The darkness game crumbled around them, Skyscraper dissolving away and Weevil just gulped down air, chest heaving as his rage was at least spent. He stared down at his blood-soaked hands and curled the trembling fingers into fists, uncaring as something warm and wet squelched out from between the knuckles.

He could feel the corners of his mouth bleed, bit open by his own gnashing teeth. They stung as hot, bitter tears burned down his face.

"I have to win…"

TTTTTT

Fushioh sighed and pulled off the remains his stolen uniform, discarding them into the last few lingering flames. The heat from his Penalty Game had ignited them and while he wasn't bothered by the heat or fire itself, the smoke was beginning to cloud his vision.

He saw one of the other darkness games dissolving away and stepped towards it as he saw the soft teal light of the Orichalcos peek through the scraps of shadow. "Ah. Castiel. Did you have any fun? Or any trouble?"

"Trouble, no. Fun, barely." The vampire let go of Harrison's corpse, wiping his mouth clean with a sleeve. "But I got a free meal out of the bargain. And found that I can drink Duel Spirits."

"Truly? That is very fascinating." Fushioh was in researcher-mode now, somehow producing a pen and notepad from out of nowhere. "Vampires usually have quite a lot of trouble with spiritual entities. Do you think it's a side effect of being exposed to the Orichalcos for so long? Or your experiences with the Cauldron back in Gallowmere? What did it taste like? Feel like? In fact, what were you drinking since a Duel Spirit has no actual physical material?"

"The answer to all of those questions is 'shut up, you're spoiling my after dinner contentment'." Castiel's words were jesting, though, and he dusted off his hands as he turned to face Fushioh in full. "Where's yours? If his body is still alive, I could use an after-dinner mint…"

He broke-off when he saw the ashen-skeleton behind the lich and raised his good eyebrow. "Well, if there was anything left to drink. What happened there?"

"Hmm?" Fushioh glanced behind himself and gave a bony shrug. "He didn't live up to his potential and was useless as a research subject after that. So I disposed of him."

"He certainly fits in here now." Castiel kicked the skeleton's charred skull, watching it fall apart into ash that blended in perfectly with the rest of the room's charred features. He turned as there was stomping behind him, cracking an obnoxious grin at the sight of Weevil covered in blood and the mangled corpse behind him. "What's this, Weevil? I thought you _didn't_ want to be a vampire!"

"Shut the fuck up, Castiel." Weevil's tone was curt, but subdued.

"You used my name. I didn't think you even knew I had one." Castiel chuckled as Weevil gave him a murderous glare and lifted his Duel Disk. "I'm still hungry. If you think you've got some more fight in you, I'll be glad to put you out of the misery that is your life."

"You smug piece of shit, I said shut up!" Weevil's stingers extended, and he slid into a fighting stance. "Or I'll rip out that eye and squash it like a grape!"

"That's enough!" Fushioh interposed himself between the two, holding his hands out in a peaceful gesture. "If we're so tense after winning victories, then maybe we should just hurry up with this Reaping Tree and then take a breather. Well, as much as the three of us need air, but still a good idea!"

"And what are we going to do with this Tree, Fushioh?" Castiel pointed to the hole in irritation. "The fact we won our duels don't change the reality that we'd need a heavy construction equipment to knock down the dorm and dig this thing up! And I think someone would notice that!"

"And the students are sure to be missed soon. We have only a day, at most." Fushioh stroked the non-existent beard again, staring at the wall in contemplation. "Gentlebeings, why don't you take five? I am going to call our employer and see what he wants done with this because I am fresh out of ideas myself."

He wandered off about a half-dozen steps and pulled a cell phone out of...somewhere and punched in a number. He waited until it started ringing, then lifted it to his ear hole. "Ah, yes. Hello, sir. I haven't caught you at a bad time, have I?"

Weevil stared at him. "He has a cell phone? Where would he keep that?"

"I'm more curious as to how he can hear without any ears."

The lich began pace as the conversation continued, gesturing with animatedly with his other hand. "Well, you see, it's underground and I really think that - well, of course. No, I am aware about my failures to secure the other Trees for you. I think that-"

It went on this vein for so long that Weevil and Castiel were both considering just dueling one another to pass the time before the lich stopped pacing, ended the call and strode back over to the other two with a relieved air. "My employer has said he'll dispatch some others to this location to deal with the tree and the loss of the students. He's given me the location of a few more Reaping Trees and I'd like to get going as soon as possible."

"Fine. Sure. Whatever." Weevil looked like he'd like to be anyplace else right now. "Where?"

"Closest tree is this place called 'The Valley of Lost Souls' in California. After that, Las Vegas. I wasn't aware of any major magical activity there, but I suppose a few decades of gambling and sin would leave _some_ impression..." Fushioh broke as Weevil stalked by him. "In a hurry?"

"I'm covered in blood. What the hell do you think?" Weevil shot back and stomped out of the room, slashing a hunk out of the wall with a stinger as he passed.

"Fushioh." Castiel caught the lich's arm, his voice low. "Just what are we doing with these trees? I don't know about you, but if someone is planting these things in areas of high magic concentration, then I'm pretty sure their owner is going to be pretty pissed that we're messing with them. I want to know if your employer is ready to deal with that because I won't stick my neck on line out of the goodness of my heart."

"Mmm, yes, Weevil did mention he ran into someone calling herself 'The Shadow Queen' in Satellite, though I doubt it was the original. But she did mention the tree was hers…" Fushioh mused, stroking his chin again. "I mentioned her to my employer, and he did give us liberty to deal with her as see fit. Or to call it in, so she can't be that much of a threat. As for the Trees themselves, my instructions are to gather the fruit from them and then destroy them."

"Why? They're living magic collectors. They're better at it than the Cauldron or the Orichalcos."

"I got the feeling that these Reaping Trees are maturing and that is going to have consequences my employer would rather avoid. And since part of my payment is the souls the Trees collect and fruit they produce, I see no reason not to destroy them. Don't need the Shadowchasers catching wind of their existence. And I can always plant my own." Fushioh said after a moment's thought. "Why the sudden concern?"

"My sister said that Lyrius knew what these trees are. And wanted to destroy them, too. If that's the case, I would bet that the more we work with the Trees, the greater risk we have of encountering them. And Dracula is probably involved at this point, too. Shadowchasers, too." Castiel said in a warning tone. "If your employer wants us to keep dealing with these things, we're going to need a lot more payment."

"I hadn't thought of it like that, I've been so concerned in just trying to get the fruit and souls…" Fushioh muttered to himself. "I'm happy with what I have, though."

"You've always been a 'go with the flow' kind of lich. You'd be happy researching dirt if you thought it'd tie into your lust for human potential." Castiel shook his head with a smile. "I'm not so easy. I have specific needs and wants."

"Mm. So you're saying that you to negotiate a separate deal with my employer rather than just hang around with me?" Fushioh watched Castiel nod. "Very well. I don't have the means to pay you myself, but your help is always appreciated.

"Good." The vampire took the cell phone that was offered to him and began scrolling through the contact list. "So what's the name of this employer?"

"Oh? He's got a couple of names. I've met him in a few of them." Fushioh said. "Currently, he is going by the name Falgar."

TTTTTTTT

 _A/N:_ _Woo, glad that is finally over. It was a lot of hard work, but it was worth it! Keep those reviews coming, folks, because they'll keep the chapters coming!_

 _Speaking of which, the next chapter is going to be one you'll need some hugs and chocolate for because Serenity and Lyrius come face-to-face with the worst and darkest aspects of their lives and relive all their pain and suffering. It will not be pretty!_

 _Next Chapter: Cleansing Pain_

CREATED CARDS

Elemental Hero Ignition Spark  
FIRE  
7 stars  
Warrior/Fusion/Effect  
2300/1700  
Effect: 'Elemental Hero Burstinatrix' + 'Elemental Hero Sparkman'. When this card is destroyed as a result of battle, you can Special Summon two 'Elemental Hero' Normal Monsters from your Graveyard or that are banished - halve their ATK and DEF. If this card is destroyed as a result of an opponent's card effect, select one 'Elemental Hero' in your Deck and Special Summon it.

Elemental Hero Diabolic Alloy  
DARK  
6 stars  
Warrior/Fusion/Effect  
2200/2000  
Effect: 'Elemental Hero Necroshade' + 'Elemental Hero Captain Gold'. This card is unaffected by monster effects and cannot be tributed. When this card is removed from the field, you can select one 'Elemental Hero' that is in your Deck, Graveyard or that is Banished, add it to your hand. If you control no monsters and control a 'Skyscraper' card, you can banish this monster from your Graveyard; Special Summon one 'Elemental Hero' monster from your Graveyard, ignoring the Summoning Conditions. During the turn you use this effect, only Special Summoned monster may attack.

Elemental Hero Typhoon  
WIND  
8 stars  
Warrior/Fusion/Effect  
2800/2800  
Effect: Elemental Hero Sparkman + Elemental Hero Avian + Elemental Hero Bubbleman. You can destroy one card you control, double this card's printed ATK OR DEF until the End Phase. During your opponent's turn, you can destroy one card you control; select one face-up 'Elemental Hero' monster you control and activate one of the following effects:  
1: The selected monster cannot be destroyed as a result of battle  
2: The selected monster is unaffected by Spell or Trap cards until the End Phase.

Avenging Wings  
Equip Spell Card  
Effect: Can only be equipped to a 'Elemental Hero' monster. Any damage the equipped monster inflicts on your opponent's life points becomes 1000. If this card is sent to the graveyard, Special Summon one 'Elemental Hero Avian' from your Hand, Deck or Graveyard. You cannot Special Summon monsters from your Extra Deck during the turn you activate this effect, except 'Elemental Hero' monsters. You can only use this effect of 'Avenging Wings' once per turn.

Boulder Tank  
Equip Spell Card  
Effect: Can only be equipped to a 'Elemental Hero' monster. The equipped monster gains 800 ATK. Once per turn, the equipped monster cannot be destroyed as a result of battle or card this card is sent to the graveyard, Special Summon one 'Elemental Hero Clayman' from your Hand, Deck or Graveyard. You cannot Special Summon monsters from your Extra Deck during the turn you activate this effect, except 'Elemental Hero' monsters. You can only use this effect of 'Boulder Tank' once per turn.

Burst Fire  
Equip Spell Card  
Effect: Can only be equipped to a 'Elemental Hero' monster. Once per turn, inflict damage to your opponent's life points equal to the number of 'Elemental Hero' monsters you control times 300. If this card is sent to the graveyard, Special Summon one 'Elemental Hero Burstinatrix' from your Hand, Deck or Graveyard. You cannot Special Summon monsters from your Extra Deck during the turn you activate this effect, except 'Elemental Hero' monsters. You can only use this effect of 'Burst Fire'' once per turn.

Bubble Bazooka  
Equip Spell Card  
Effect: Can only be equipped to an 'Elemental Hero' monster. You take no battle damage from battles involving the equipped monster. If this face-up card on the field is sent to the graveyard, draw 1 one card. If this card is sent to the graveyard, Special Summon one 'Elemental Hero Bubbleman' from your Hand, Deck or Graveyard. You cannot Special Summon monsters from your Extra Deck during the turn you activate this effect, except 'Elemental Hero' monsters. You can only use this effect of 'Bubble Bazooka' once per turn.

Neo-Skyscraper  
Field Spell Card  
Effect: This card's name is also treated as 'Skyscraper'. Once per turn, you can shuffle 'Elemental Hero' monsters listed as Fusion Material monsters on a Fusion Monster from your Hand, Field or Graveyard into your deck, Fusion Summon that Fusion Monster. Once per turn, if an 'Elemental Hero' monster is destroyed, you can Special Summon one 'Elemental Hero' monster from your deck that has a lower level than the destroyed monster.

Heroic Armory  
Continuous Trap Card  
Effect: Once per turn (Quick Effect): You can target one Elemental Hero you control, select one Equip Spell Card from your deck and equip it to that monster. If this card is removed by the field by your opponent's card effect, select one Equip Spell card in your Deck or Graveyard or that is Banished and add it to your Hand.


	17. Cleansing Pain

Kintsugi  
By 7th Librarian

 _A/N:_ _So sorry for the long wait for this one! I had to get everything just right! Writing people having genuine emotions is hard. I'm starting to see why a lot of protagonists are stoic, quiet badasses. Not as much effort required!_

Chapter 17: Cleansing Pain

"You lie." The words were sharp, quick. As real as any sword Lyrius had ever held.

A real sword would have bounced off her just as well as his words did, so confident was that smile on Iris' face. "Is that so? Enlighten me as to your reasoning."

"We fought, we argued, we battled, but never in any of my years did I ever once think you would ever kill me," Lyrius said, eyes narrowing. "And when you died, I am still here. In pain, suffering, exhausted, but _alive._ "

"You thought I was talking about living in that context?" She laughed, once again teasing him with the knowledge she had and he did not. "Oh, Lyrius, I always adored your pragmatic straightforward view of the world, but you must really learn to think in broader, elusive realms. Any good artist sees beyond what's in front of their eyes."

"I never had the silver tongue you did and you wove far too many webs of lies that were just as lethal to the spider as the fly." He folded his arms. "Speak plainly or not at all."

She clucked her tongue, eyes disapproving at his refusal to play her game. "So impatient. But I will acquise, for this is about you and not me. I killed you, husband mine, as surely as I killed anyone else. You just don't know it yet."

The Shadow Queen paced around him in a measured fashion. A simple trick to force your partner to follow you and let you set the pace of conversation, keep them off balance. Lyrius refused to give in and ignored it. "You must know that 'living' is such a vague term to define. You yourself are a paradox of it. You do not require sleep, you survive lethal wounds, you maintain your body despite limited food and drink. But yet your body lives. It moves, it talks, it walks...though, as we both know…"

She had completed her circle, one little finger having trailed along his shoulder in a seductive fashion and coming to rest on his chest. "If your heart were to beat...it would beat for me."

The black fingernail tapped his chest and Lyrius jerked back as if struck, eyes wide. The moment she had touched him, there had been a very clear and almost audible heartbeat in his chest.

Another laugh, this time of amusement. "I took your life, so I can certainly return it if I so wish. Perhaps I will, if only to see how startled you look!"

"Enough of this," Lyrius snapped. "You are not Iris. You are not my Queen. If you were, you would know I have no patience or love for your games!"

She adopted an annoyed, hurt expression. "I have not seen you in so long, my suffering in the Abyss so devastating, you would not indulge me my amusements?"

"No." Lyrius shook his head, a firm and yet sad, wistful look in his eyes. "You are nothing but an illusion created by Dracula."

"The ruler of all vampires, who slew the very god of her people and ate his heart, mother of darkness…" Iris gave him a disapproving look. "Do you not think her capable of walking into the Abyss and freeing me whether by bargain or force?"

"She has no reason to."

"Ah, but then she would have me, the one thing between your heart and her. And it would not be beyond her to break me, twist into a new vampire queen and use our love as the whip to make you heel like a good dog." Iris watched his expression flicker with surprise with satisfaction. "That never crossed your mind. And it would be to her eternal amusement to reunite us, only to have you decry me an illusion."

"You are one." He insisted. "Dracula would not go against Graz'zt, ignoring the consequences in such an arrogant fashion."

"True. As you have said, she is rightfully confident, not arrogant. So that may not be the case." Iris tapped her chin in thought. "Then perhaps I am a message - a fragment of your wife trying to reach you so desperately through our bond from the Abyss. It would not be the first time…"

The words ripped a hole in the dam of his mind and memories flooded by. The dream in front of the shattered window, her asking him to kill himself to prove his love, torments of watching her tortured and degraded, offered to demons and mortals and the words of begging praise spilling from her lips, the mess made of every inch of the woman he called wife…

Then he shoved the memories aside, sealing them back away. "That is not the case, either. The feel of this is wrong and nothing about this is to show me my own powerlessness or show Graz'zt's might."

"Another valid point. This pleases me, you are thinking beyond what lies in front of your eyes. So let us expand your horizons further." Her stormy eyes, though lacking pupils, were mischievous. "Perhaps the truth is simpler than you want it be. That I am real, because I am the memory of the Queen you gave all devotion, the wife you gave all love, and the pain you gave all embrace. I am the treasure that dwells in your heart and you shall never be rid of."

That, Lyrius acknowledge grudgingly, made more sense. If Dracula's intent was to force him into a deprivation-like meditation, a self-generated hallucination or manifestation was possible. "So you are a memory. What of it?"

"A memory? No, nothing so weak. I am your past, your history. The very thing that creates the shadow that is you." She touched his face again. Loving, reverent. "And as long as I live in your heart, you are all but dead inside."

"You keep speaking that like it obvious, but your meaning is no more clear than when we started!" Lyrius snapped. "Why do you insist upon it?"

She just stared at him and not all his centuries of knowing her could give him a clue as to what her thoughts or purpose were. She may as well be carved from marble.

He turned when he could no longer bear to look at the expressionless face.

Only to see her standing in front of him. A glance over his shoulder moved her back behind him and looking front left her looming there. Even looking 'up' relative to himself somehow still put her in front of him.

She gave him a cool look. "You see? Even in the depths of your heart, I am always with you. All your paths lead to me."

She stepped forwards, her presence seeming to spread and swallow him up. "And they always will."

TTTTTTT

The iceberg was so cold it was almost blistering. It attacked Serenity like a tiger, her naked flesh stinging from its touch even as it drained the color from her skin and left her limbs trembling. She wasn't sure how the vampire had managed to summon ice from the ocean water or how that even after a full day in the blazing summer sun, it had somehow managed to get even bigger.

The first day, Serenity found she could use her magic to catch fish. When fish got close enough, she could send a shockwave through the water and the dead fish would float to the surface. She could also generate black flames from her good hand to cook it and a twist of her metal hand would snap the head off so she could toss it back into the ocean.

The same black flames let her melt pieces of the iceberg to have water to drink and carve herself a little shelter to avoid the worst of the sun's baleful rays. But boredom and exhaustion haunted her like specters, working together with the cold to sap her strength and fill her with tiredness. She found herself yawning almost constantly and more than once, she'd found herself resting her cheek on her knees just to catch a few winks. Only a few…

When she awoke from short-nap-turned-exhausted-sleep, the iceberg was now mirror smooth and much smaller. The frigid night air was like daggers against her exposed skin and everything was feeling stiff and was a literal pain to move.

Frost was forming on her eyelashes.

The light from the dawn of the second day was blinding to the point the Serenity had to curl into a ball and bury her forehead against her platform to avoid it. When her eyes had adjusted, a desperate search for food found there no more fish around it, either. Dracula had chased them all away somehow.

The vast, endless expanse of the ocean spread out before her in all directions. The waters were far too still and quiet without even a slight breeze. And Serenity knew she didn't have the strength to swim the waters if her little platform suddenly capsized or fell apart. She'd hit the water, sink down below the surface and drown, the ocean having dragged her to a watery grave that no one would ever find.

And she could feel the resulting panic well with in her, uncontrollable and spreading like a fire. Her head ached with the sudden fear and she buried her face between her legs. There was just too much ocean, too much empty space and she was far too alone. She opened cracked, tired lips to call out for Lyrius or Dracula, to just hear herself speak. But all that came out was a weak, tired noise that the doctor part of her recognized as the noise an animal close to death made.

Despite knowing that it was a precious waste of water, Serenity let herself cry.

Time slipped away from her.

The sun and its heat, the ice and its cold, the wildly swinging temperature shifts between night and day and the lack of food and water had broken her. Serenity found herself slipping in and out of consciousness without any awareness of actually doing so. When she was awake, she could feel herself curled up on her side but didn't have the strength to move any more. Even if she could, half of her was so frozen to the ice she'd peel away a layer of skin if she moved and the other half ached and throbbed with sunburn.

When she was slept, it was fitful and far more draining than being awake was because even her slightest movement would wake her and pain permeated her weak dreams like a plague.

Eventually she found herself with so little strength that opening her eyes was a monumental effort and so whenever she found herself aware to the world, she just kept her eyes closed and tried to will herself back into the feeble release that was sleep.

She was going to die.

That was the truth. Decades of doctoring and seeing death in all its myriad forms made drawing that conclusion an inevitability. She amused herself in a bittersweet way by cataloguing just how the process of her death would happen. She was already well into the first stage - numbness to the point of pain. Her extremities were turning blue and shading into black. Exhaustion and tiredness were her companions, now.

Her body was pooling all the blood into her chest cavity, trying to keep her organs warm and functioning. It was kind of amusing to think of the trillions of little cells in her body scouring around her muscle and fat mass like a pack of rodents, desperate to find any morsel to stave of hunger. And finding nothing.

So that meant, very soon, she was going to fall asleep and not wake. One by one, her organs would slow and shut down and one of them would be her heart. Three minutes after that, her brain would lose blood circulation and suffer irreparable damage from oxygen deprivation.

And then, Serenity Wheeler would cease to exist.

Idly, Serenity wondered if becoming a vampire would reverse the brain damage or even give un-life. And if it did, would the vampire that woke up be her? Or a new being entirely? Lyrius had told her that vampirism 'filled in' the gaps in someone's existence - making a cancerous person healthy, making a weak person strong. Could it fill in an empty mind? Would the new vampire be Serenity Wheeler? And if it wasn't, would they remember her?

Somehow, the thought of not being remembered was more frightening than the thought of dying.

 _Lyrius will remember me. Rex, too._ The smile that thought brought her felt like someone was stretching her lips into the right shape with a pair of spread tongs. _Even Resonae. I feed her cake._

The smile didn't last. Even near death as she was, she was concerned for those in her charge. Rex would probably be okay. He was resourceful and reliable. Resonae was Resonae. She'd be fine even if they stuck her in the bottom of the ocean. Probably just beat up a giant squid.

Lyrius bothered her. He still had a lot of baggage to get through and she didn't think he could do it on his own. He was anchored to his past, with no destination for the future. He'd just chase fruitless dreams, a hamster on a wheel.

That'd be a waste of a good man.

There was enough sensation left in her to feel the pang in her heart the thought brought. _A thoughtful, passionate man. Devoted and loyal, but fierce like a wolf. A wolf that hunts monsters like Weevil._

And he'd hunt those monsters until one of them killed him. Alone, isolated and lost in his own head.

 _No, not alone._ She realized through her haze. _Dracula is there. She'll take care of him. She'll accept him. With open arms...open heart...open legs…_

That image, of the vampire in his lap, legs around him with look of predatory satisfaction in her eyes as she sank her fangs into his neck and drew out that low gasp, filled her with a sudden rage.

The cold evaporated into darkness, silken and comforting. It soothed away her aches and pains, scattered her exhaustion. Infinite and accepting.

Let Dracula think she'd be dead in three days. She'd be here, alive and waiting to blast the blood-drinker into ashes she could scatter into the ocean with a wave of her hand.

 _ **About time you remembered your power.**_

Serenity glanced down at the voice. There, in the mirror surface of the darkness, was herself. Herself as Doctor Death. _I've been talking to myself?  
_

The voice ignored her. _**The vampire told you she was going to force you to rely on it. This should have been your go-to option.**_

 _I did use it!_ Serenity protested. _I made shelter, I fed myself-_

 _ **You hear that?  
**_

Serenity could, a low, steady thud-thud in the background. Strained, as if each noise was a great effort.

Her heartbeat.

 _ **You're dying.**_

 _That's...bad._ Serenity felt that was all that was needed to sum up the situation.

Doctor Death's electric-blue lips curled into a razor smirk. _**Is that a bad thing?**_

Serenity could only stare at her.

 _ **You are at your limit, Serenity Wheeler. Death may have taken his sweet time in coming for you, but he has come now. There is nothing you can do to survive. Nothing...but to embrace the shadows.**_

 _I have-_

 _ **You have not. You use it like a tool, a weapon to be locked in its sheath and used as a last resort.**_ The eyes of Doctor Death's mask were cruel and judging. _**Everyone has told you this magic is synergistic with you. You should embrace it, cradle it, breath it like air. Yet you don't.**_

Serenity didn't have an immediate response. Then: _I'm afraid._

 _ **Then what are you more afraid of? Dying?**_ The heartbeat slowed more, each 'thud' like a bell toll, each one fading before the next could struggle froth. _**Or the truth?**_

 _The truth of what?_ Serenity demanded.

 _ **You won't know until you step down that path. Of darkness, blood and pain.**_ The smile under that mask was wicked, promising and hungry. _**And pleasure.**_

Serenity stared down at her reflection. A choice between death that would lead to peace. Or power that could lead to agony.

The power of the Shadow Queen. Tyrant, monster, beloved wife and indomitable woman.

 _Lyrius…_

She reached down, fingers sinking underneath the surface of the darkness. Doctor Death was distorted away by the ripples. But the mask remained. With loving care, she lifted it free. It dripped with living shadow and on an impulse she couldn't explain, the doctor stuck out her tongue and caught a few drops on the tip before swallowing.

It was the taste of strength, of passion, of lust. Of beautiful pain.

She waited until the last, straining heartbeat sounded and as it faded away, she knew Serenity Wheeler had died.

She placed the mask on her face.

It fit her with perfection.

Her new face.

Her real face.

The darkness evaporated and she breathed it in as it did so, pulling it into her core, her very being.

Strength filled her body. No longer did it ache with exhaustion, but with unspent energy. The sun was warm and comforting, the ice cool and refreshing. Sunburned and frozen flesh peeled off to reveal her rebirth underneath it. The wrinkles of age smoothed into the vitality of youth as Serenity practically shrugged the last sixty years off her as she rose to her feet.

Even the broad ocean was no longer frightening, but instead glittered as representation of the infinite potential she now possessed. If she wanted to, she could step onto its surface and walk over it, conquering it with nothing more than her will.

"So you did survive."

Serenity turned, a willowy, punch-drunk smile laced with poison on her face. On the far end of the iceberg stood Dracula, the vampire looking rather pleased. "I have. And I will. I can survive anything now."

"Such confidence in yourself. But does it extend to anyone else?" At Serenity's curious, cat-like head cock, the vampire smiled. "What would you do if I told you Lyrius died in his training? By my hand?"

Half of the iceberg exploded into fragments as Serenity launched forwards at inhumane speed, a strangled scream of rage tearing free of her as she brought a hand blazing with black magic down onto the vampire's head.

It only tilted it's target and the counterblow landed square in Serenity's throat, the human gasping and crashing to her knees, convulsing as her body tried to stuck in air and vomit at the same time. It got mixed results, bile spattering over the ice before Serenity could suck down a breath.

Dracula was silent, listening to Serenity gasp in pain. Then she kicked the human over, planting a foot on her chest. "That was very enlightening. Your shadow magic bolsters your physical form and abilities to well beyond human norms. I did not expect it to be as such for you, with your kindness and compassion towards others as a doctor. As your magic is synergistic with your being, that explosive power seems at odds with yourself. But then I recall how little I know about you."

She smiled, all fangs and those red eyes seemed to fill Serenity's vision and even her mask felt it would break under the pressure they exerted. "So let's see what makes you tick, doctor."

TTTTTT

The moon, large and red with the blood that had been spilled that night, wore the smoke from the burning town below like a veil fluttering in the flames of war. Demons and humans in armor lay everywhere, weapons shattered and splintered while a small mountain of stone spilled across the street with a few twitching, dying limbs poking free.

And not too far away, a tall woman with stormy eyes in black armor lorded over a kneeling youth with wiry black hair. She watched with satisfaction as the youth slowly and carefully ate a pitch-black apple, the juices leaking like blood with every bite.

"Why show me this?" Farther away and invisible to any in this memory, Lyrius watched the scene play out. "This is the night we met. I remember it well."

"This is the night you devoured my heart." Iris placed a hand to her chest, chuckling. "Did you know I almost wished my body didn't regenerate into perfection? I would have liked to keep the scar. It would have been a lovely reminder."

Lyrius hadn't known that. And once more, he he was left wondering just what exactly was going on. The path of 'vivid hallucination' was becoming more and more tempting, though that still left out where the new information was coming from. "Again, why show me this?"

"This is the first step I took in killing you, my love." The Shadow Queen nodded at the scene before them.

"Our bond?" Lyrius frowned at her. "That cannot be."

"No, that has no bearing here." She turned to face him. "When we fought, when you devoured my heart, what were you thinking?"

He stared at her, glancing back at their past selves and then back to her. The two Shadow Queens might as well been twins. "I was thinking that you were powerful, immeasurably so. And that to work for you was the superior to being homeless, starving and alone."

"What else?"

"That you were beautiful."

She smiled, a thin one. "You said the women in the brothels were just as beautiful."

"They were."

"Sometimes, your honesty is _not_ appreciated." She looked back at into the past. "Did you think us equals? Partners?"

Lyrius paused, the question throwing him. It had been so long. Then he nodded once. "I believe I did. You promised me power and all of your secrets and even then, I knew you would part with neither one without great reluctance. Or trust."

"Which you earned tenfold." Iris agreed, but the look on her face was didn't reflect the achievement. It was more...pity, at her past self. "But...in those thoughts of power and secrets, there was servility, wasn't there? You knelt before me, you acknowledge me your superior and swore loyalty."

"As did many others, both before and since that night." Lyrius gave her another frown. "Is that what you want to show me here? That because I swore loyalty to you, it would somehow kill me?"

"Not of itself, no, but it planted the seeds that would be your downfall. For you put me above yourself and that would become the foundation for everything you did afterwards."

"You gave me my name, my purpose. I owed you everything."

"I would come to owe you more, my servant. For you would be my Champion, General, Beloved and King and my Empire would have not been half of what it was if not for you." Iris watched as her past self touched the young Lyrius' cheek and he licked the blood from her fingers. "Why did you do that? Taste the blood? You did it then, and you did it several times after our battles and victories. I would touch you and you would lap at my blood."

"It is...something I remember." He said after a long moment, watching the flames rage around them and wondering just how much his past self had actually seen. The present versions were standing on a ruined fountain that he definitely not remember.

"Remember from _what_ , my Shadow?" An order, not a question.

"My parents." He had never seen her so surprised, her mouth dropping slightly open and the storms in her eyes actually going dead still. _I wish I had a camera._

"Your parents." She repeated after a moment.

"I was only nine when they abandoned me. At least to the best of my recollection. I do not know their faces or their names, but I remember...scents, sounds. One them alway wore a white flower in their hair that always smelled of vanilla. One used to hum what I later learned was an old funeral dirge."

"And the blood?"

"Blood is the currency of life, the vehicle of the soul. To partake of another's blood is to take of their soul. And because we killed to eat, we lessened the world to take for ourselves. So we would lick blood from the knife so that a piece of fallen's soul would be carried with us, that our blood would remember them and through us, they would exist." Lyrius shook his head with a bemused expression. "I don't know where I heard that, just that I did. I don't even know if it was a religion or a creed or simple insane ramblings."

"So you partook of my blood to carry a piece of me with you." Iris smiled at him, a kind of smile that could thaw glaciers. "You have the most charming way of making things that should be unsettling and wrong quite flattering."

She didn't wait for a response, turning and striding away as the memory began to fall apart around them. "Come along, Lyrius. We have a lot of history to cover and I'd rather not review the last thousand years in real time."

Lyrius watched her, wondering where she was 'going' if this place was all in his head and then, as he had so many times before, fell into obedient step behind her.

TTTTTT

"What is that makes you who you are, doctor?."

Dracula's words were clear and audible above the cacophony of scraping bone, rattling rusted metal and flesh, inhumane moans. Zombies and skeletons from every era of history Serenity recognized and some she didn't encircled her. Sightless eyes were still filled with hunger and every motion was filled with loathing for the living creature who dared intrude upon their sanctity.

Serenity lashed out with moves that didn't know she knew, but years of military service had drilled into her body. Before, with her age and weakness, they would have been paltry. Now, her vitality restored to its peak and the magic surging around her fist, they were shattering skulls, renting armor.

But for everyone she slew, two more took its place and she could feel wounds opening up where her dodges were too slow.

"Shadow magic like yours is born from your unspoken desires, the feelings at your core that words could never express. The same primal place that fear of the dark springs from. You do not know why you have such fear, only that you _should_ have it."

Serenity punched the ground, a shockwave of dark magic ringing outwards to throw the front line of skeletons back. But none took any damage, only stalled in their advance as the undead struggled to untangle themselves from one another.

She collected the magic into her first until it was a sphere the size of a basketball and hurled into the ranks of her attackers. It exploded with far less force than she had expected, but the magic burned away bone, rusted armor and rotten flesh in equal measure. It left only faint embers of the skeletons it had destroyed and burned at the ones it had grazed, eating up everything it touched.

But that technique had felt draining.

And it wasn't enough.

Not nearly enough.

The undead were endless.

"So much of you has been stripped away. Friends. Family. Time. Health. Hope. Sanity." Dracula said, the vampire's voice coming from somewhere out in the vast darkness of the zombie horde. "All that is left in the core of your being, doctor. The base instinct to survive. But what will your heart do _to_ survive?"

Serenity acknowledged the words without hearing them, a whip of darkness whirling around her to slice metal and bone to ribbons - damage that would have rendered a living enemy incapacitated, but doing nothing to stop the things that could feel no pain or suffer true wounds.

Nothing she could think was going to stop the hordes - she'd exhaust herself if she tried to brawl against the endless numbers, fire was always a bad mix with undead, bursts of magic weren't doing damage, lightning wouldn't hurt them and she could not summon wind nor ice no matter how hard she willed it.

They were pressing in at her from all sides now, the quickness of her empowered body and a 'sixth sense' towards danger forming the thin line she had between staying alive and joining the ranks around her.

The helpless pressure of despair began to surround her as tightly as the skeletons did. When she'd realized her eyesight was going to go away forever. When she'd been forced to duel her Ryan to the death and kill him. When, in the aftermath of Zero Reverse, she'd only been able to save tens of the thousands suffering. When she realized her friends and family were dead. When she realized the Japanese Government had abandoned them on Satellite. When she'd finally run out of medicine and supplies on that hellhole.

The awful, all-consuming feeling of emptiness that was the realization that your best, no matter how good it was, feel short. That you lost and reality had won.

 _I came so far!_ Serenity's kick blew out the pelvis of a skeleton. It collapsed down, but crawled forwards on its arms until she smashed its ribcage.

 _I took my bloodlust and sadism and made myself a healer! I went to the worse places the world had to offer and I survived! I helped others survive!_ Magic blew apart around the skeleton and she ripped the sword from its disintegrating fingers. It shone with her power and she cut down attackers in twos and threes.

But still they came.

 _I survived Satellite! I survived a monster ripping off my arm! When a thug mangled my leg beyond repair, I cut it off and gave myself a new one!_ The dead pressed around her more tightly, hands reaching, fingers clawing, teeth gnashing. The sword, stuck in ancient armor, wrenched from her gasp and her fists sent shards of bone and metal into the darkness.

But still they came.

 _I have never given into despair! When others gave up on hope, on living, I kept moving forwards!_ Images of the past - of dueling Ryan, drawing a card with her teeth when mangled fingers wouldn't work, of dragging herself with rent, bloody fingertips towards her operating table as her destroyed leg trailed behind with mangled flesh sloughing off splintered bone, of taking the pain of violation as fuel for anger, teeth tearing at her attacker's ear she kicked him away and drove something sharp between his legs, more and more moments of pain and terror - danced in front of her, a string of miserable memories from the last seventy years of her that threatened to strangle her.

It erupted out of her in a scream of defiant rage and bloodlust, power lancing out in all directions in a wild dance that swept the skeletons around like they were leaves in a strong, battering and breaking them against one another.

 _I will survive!_

But still they came.

The flicker of power might of lasted minutes, but it was all too-brief against the endless ranks surrounding her. They charged through and over the remains of the defeated, swarming as one mass with thousands of hungry mouths. The skeletons buried her under their sheer mass, magic failing to push against such weight. She could feel them clawing open wounds everywhere - she was bare to them and even undead beasts have enough intelligence to target the soft places. Eyes, breasts, between her legs, there were bony fingers trying to split her jaw open from the inside.

It was building in her, the magic, the presence, the shadowed reflection of herself. Serenity refused to struggle - she _fought_ , blasts of power shattering bone, hair ribboning into the color of fresh blood that coiled to burn to through metal or sharpened into spikes to gouge into weaknesses and split them apart. A pile of skeletons and zombies were lifted of her as her metal fist fired with far more force than it should have been capable off, rocketing into and through a stone pillar like it was made of paper-mache.

But still they came.

 _I will survive! I will survive!_ The words burned in her like they were her blood itself, filling her with strength even as real blood pooled out of her. The pain she was subjected, she drank like water and bathed in the unending shadows that had become her power. _Whatever life threw at me, I met head-on! Whenever I was beaten into the dirt, I rose again! Even when I had nothing, I still had my will! To never show defeat in the face of despair! What is left when everything taken away from me, Dracula? What lies at the bottom of my heart?_

The magic subsumed her, lacing through veins, arteries, muscle, organs and bone from her brain to her toes. It was both real and not real and Serenity felt it well within her, a dark life, a second life and she gathered magic into her hand as this new shadow did the same.

 _THERE'S ONLY ME!_

The explosion flung the pile of undead off of her in a wave of black fire and crackling lightning. Serenity sagged, covered in wounds and blood, metal limbs dented and twisted to leak oil and other fluids. But she still stood, unbent and unbroken.

And she stood twice over, for standing alongside was a second Serenity. There was nothing to this new woman but a person carved from shadows. Every detail, from the hard set in her eyes to the individual strands of her hair to the twitching and curling metal fingers, was perfect. This shadow carried no wounds, but stood straight and proud with boundless will.

The undead were regrouping, those unaffected by the blast surging out around the pillars behind her in a hungry charge.

Serenity saw them coming out of the corner of her. But she hadn't the energy to met it head-on as her magic was still trying to knit her wounds and keep her standing. Even so, her mind ran through how she could take them down.

Before the thoughts were even formed at all, her shadow moved. It swept the legs of the front row out from underneath them and as they went down, the reminder crashed to a halt. Then the shadow rained bone-shattering blows on them with surgical precision, disabling and crushing them.

Once that was done, it vanished into the ground into a pool of black that raced over and reformed next to Serenity herself as it adopted a protective stance against her back.

"Enough." Dracula dropped down out of the darkness, the undead all rustling to a halt at the mere presence of the ruler of all vampires. There was a satisfied expression on her face as she stalked towards Serenity. "So, you yourself are your unspoken feelings?"

She stepped closer to the shadow, studying with practiced eyes before tapping her chin. "I wonder if that makes this thing an expression of ultimate narcissism?"

"What is it?" Serenity asked between pants for air.

"I would hazard that it's some form of familiar, perhaps literally so given how it looks like you and seems to reacts with instantaneous knowledge of your thoughts and instincts." Dracula said. "It knows what you want it to do before you can even put conscious effort into the command."

Serenity considered this for a moment. "I'll call it Instinct."

The vampire frowned. "But why? It is literally an extension of yourself and has no personality nor will except yours. You might as well name your pinkie finger."

"It was born from my instinct to survive and reacts to my other instincts. And I like the comedic potential." Serenity managed a smile even as a portion of her mask cracked off. "Like, do you want to know what the instinctive reaction is to a vampire whose idea of training is throwing someone into a life-or-death situation just to 'see what happens' is?"

"I would assume it would be to run in fear of my overwhelming, bloody glory and-" Dracula was cut short as a shadowed foot slammed between her legs.

Serenity watched as the surprise and pain slowly register with the vampire from the bottom of her face on up, with her lips twitching as if they were unsure let out a groan of pain or twist into a agonized frown. Dracula's nose crinkled in the rest of a wince and her ruby eyes decided to go wide.

Serenity gave her the sweetest, innocent smile she could muster. And her familiar did the same. "Sorry. Instinct made me do it. You dick."

Then she passed out, Instinct wickering back over to its master to stand guard.

"...touche."

TTTTTT

Lyrius did not like mausoleums. Not in the fact he was surrounded by death and when you dealt with necromancers, made astounding convenient places for traps, but he always felt like he was intruding into something sacred and disturbing the dead's tranquility. These places were not to be disturbed by the living.

Doubly so if one walked in on a couple having ritualistic sex.

Even if that couple was you and your wife.

"Why do you avert your eyes?" Even sitting on a coffin, Iris somehow managed to look regal and imposing, but her teasing smile was visible even in the shadows cast by the flickering torches that ringed the place. "Ashamed to see your past performances?"

"Hardly." Lyrius elected to lean against the wall, arms folded. It was a natural posture for him, letting him skulk in the shadows and avoid detection while not missing anything. "But I know how much the Shadow Queen hated to be interrupted when indulging her passions."

"It's just a memory, my love. They can no more see or hear us than we can walk over and join them." She paused as a particularly loud gasp of pleasure came from the past couple and cocked her head at them with a curious look in her eyes. "Ah, that was the first time we tried that position. Turned out to be one of your favorites. It was like you'd never seen my breasts before…"

Her lips quirked seductively and her eyes half-lidded. "Would you like to repeat the performance?"

"Iris." Lyrius felt pink crawl up his face and swore inwardly at himself. _You'd think after all this time I would be the last person to forget the depth of her carnal appetites! If that time in the throne was any indication, it's bottomless!_ "Why are we here?"

"Well, you certainly don't think mere _pornography_ would be enough to spark my arousal?" Iris looked offended at the notion. "Mere mortals can hardly compare to my glorious majesty, so what else is there to admire but me and my husband?"

"Does that include the other twelve husbands?" Lyrius asked flatly and she actually blushed before growling at him and folding her arms in a huff. "I do not care if you think it a cheap shot, you were dodging my question."

"Well, if you're going to be such an impertinent man, then I'm not going to tell you." She lifted her nose at him, all queen now. "You will just have to guess at the purpose of our visit."

"It is beneath the Shadow Queen to be so indirect and childish."

"Wife trumps Queen in this relationship Lyrius, and your wife is very miffed at your refusal to play word games with the Queen. So now you are on your own." She gestured at him. "Go on, take a guess. I'll wait."

 _Most people wonder why I never had a harem. I tell them I married two women at the same time in Iris. And both of them always think they're right._ Seeing that his wife's expectant gaze wasn't going to give him any answers, Lyrius took in the memory.

He could not remember precise details about the mausoleum - that was likely why the carvings and details on the coffins were blurred - only that it belonged to one of their conquests and where their royalty had been interred. The past Iris and Lyrius were in the center, rose petals scattered everywhere and around them was a sprawling black glyph inscribed on the stone. Lit candles decorated it at intersections, glowing with unholy light that gleamed of the ceremonial tattoos inscribed on their past bodies with _cyphin_ \- a necromantic body paint made out of the blood of your enemy, the ashes of his bones, tears of an an enemy and some plants. But mostly things from your defeated enemy.

 _Which is such a startling trait of the best necromancers, their willingness to recycle._ Lyrius mused. _I wonder if the first one saw a dead body and became the origin of the phrase 'waste not, want not'._

Their past selves switched positions, Iris straddling him in reverse and arching towards the heavens. The tattoos were glowing with soft, sickly and bleak light as the candles began to burn faster than normal. There were still blood spatters from a very recent battle all over their bodies and Lyrius recalled that they had defeated the mausoleum owners only hours before - using one of their dragons to crack the fortress ceiling like an egg and roasting the trapped occupants. The smell of burnt flesh had lingered over the entire area for weeks.

The ritual was another one designed to empower - in those early years, Iris had taken measure after measure to fortify and take more power unto herself - by siphoning the lingerings of the dead souls here and giving their essence to the two performing the ritual. It was a sex ritual because of the balancing profanity the act introduced - the ultimate expression of life in a place of the dead created a nexus of clashing energy the ritual would draw upon.

The past couple changed position again, tattoos burning so much it looked they should have seared into their skin even while they bled inky, black smoke and the Shadow Queen managed to pant out the words of the ritual between her passionate moans. Even though both of their eyes had no pupils, Lyrius could tell they were staring into each other's and the way they kissed spoke of love, not lust.

 _This is the first place we made love, not sex._ It was a sobering realization. _Among the dead, claiming life with every breath and letting ourselves bleed together. She shared that which was most precious to her - power - with me. A true, magical moment._

As always, Iris seemed to read his thoughts without even trying as she spoke up from behind him. "You are ashamed to admit that you find this place and this ritual ignoble and dishonorable."

"Yes. The dead have given their shares to the world. Why should we disturb their peace to take more?"

"Such a noble sentiment and perhaps one I should have paid more heed to in my own life." She agreed. "But there is more to your discomfort, your frustration, is there not? Speak it."

"...no. It is your casual desecrations that bother me, Iris. You never showed proper deference to those who gave their lives to build your Empire, whether they were your own soldiers or your enemies."

"I am the Shadow Queen, the glory of my Empire is deference enough to those who serve in my name." She said curtly. When he did not respond, she sighed. "We are in your heart, Lyrius. If you cannot be honest with me, then at least have the courage to finally be honest with yourself."

"It was always about you." He said, the words springing from the recesses from his mind like a herd of rabbits stampeding away from the wolf that was Iris' disappointment. "Our love, our sex. You prefered to initiate, to control. And we did this ritual of yours many, many times."

"Some throw feasts to celebrate victories, I want sex and power. Things I could only share with you."

"The first few times, the ritual empowered only you, not both of us." He rounded on her. "And you ignored the consequences of disturbing the enemy's dead. How many curses and hexes did we have to suffer through in those early years?"

"Power always has a price, Lyrius." She reminded him, her tone curt again. "That is one of the immutable laws of the world that I always paid heed to."

Lyrius wasn't sure where the anger was rising from, but it was far from spent. "You ignored me when I told you we didn't have to suffer them! I took up necromancy to learn more about these rituals and knew that you could have easily done these rituals among our own fallen! But you always used our enemies, the defeated, one extra lash of the whip to prove your power over them! To satiate your ego and pride that the Shadow Queen was untouchable!"

"It was my necessary right."

"Was it your right to use the man you professed to love as a stepping stone to your power?" He pointed back at their past selves, still locked in passionate embrace and unaware of the two observers. "Iris, it is one thing that I swore my sword and my loyalty to my Queen, but it is another thing entirely to take my freely-given love that you acknowledged as the only love you'd _ever_ received from someone and treat it as just another trinket!"

She regarded him with a dispassionate judgement of a queen. And her frown indicated it was not good. "So you are admitting that you think that of our love, I was all take and no give? I, who gave you life, name, _purpose_ and my throne, who endured hundreds of years of imprisonment just to see you again, who defied my lord for you, was selfish with our love?"

"When it truly mattered, yes! This ritual -" Lyrius gestured around them. "-was just another way for you to increase your power and you did not even need it! You just wanted it! Just like you expected my love to be available to you without question! You took me for granted!"

"And how was I supposed to do otherwise when you came at my beck and call like the tame wolf you were?" She countered. "You gave me everything, Lyrius, at all times and repeated your loyalty to me like a prayer! I thought your love and devotion to be infinite!"

"They are!" Lyrius snapped so forcefully, his power shook the room and Iris took a step back in surprise as it did. It was that, seeing his indomitable wife show a sliver of fear, that doused his anger more than anything. "I just wish...your love had been...but I was always a close second to power with you."

"Yes, you were." She admitted. "Perhaps you still are. With all my husbands, I had plans and schemes and methods to extract power from them just as I had you."

"I know. Your two sets of elemental children. The Shadow Spawn." Lyrius folded his arms. He had plenty of thoughts about how Iris had raised them, least of a long lecture concerning why you did not seal dark magic in them as a means of control. But now wasn't the time to pick another argument. "What of it?"

"What I saw as a method of power with them, I gave to you as a gift of love. And I used this ritual to ensure her health and safety." Her hand rested on her belly and Lyrius had to blink as he realized she was now over six months pregnant. "I gave you our daughter."

Lyrius felt, for one of the few times he could recall, stunned. It made a frightening amount of sense. They'd conceived their child in the Black Garden, so named for Iris had buried her political opponents there so they could serve her Empire in death as they hadn't in life. The garden had wilted all at once days later and he thought it at the time just to be some kind of magical plant illness. But if she had used the empowerment ritual to strengthen the child at the moment of conception…

"I loved you the only way I knew how, Lyrius." Iris said, stroking her belly. "The same way you loved me. By giving you what I thought you wanted."

"Yes, I wanted a child…" He put his hand atop hers, leaning so that their foreheads were touching and he could stare into her eyes. "Our child. One that we could both love. And we did. Lyrissa was amazing, beautiful just like you."

"Strong just like you." She agreed and then she was no longer pregnant, but pushing a bundle into his arms. He took it and tenderly unfolded it, revealing the blonde-streaked with black locks of his infant daughter. Tiny fists wriggled free of the blanket to grasp his finger and draw it to her mouth with a giggle-squeal of joy, wide black eyes alight with the simple happiness of a baby. Lyrius smiled and bounced her gently, their smiles both widening to happy grins.

"Dadadadadadadada!"

He looked up, the scene around them having altered. Now Lyrius could see himself kneeling, gesturing to himself as a year-old Lyrissa toddled towards him on shaky legs held up right by her grip on her mother's fingers. But a broad toothless grin split her face at the sight of him and she jolted forwards, babbling the only noise she knew as a word. Iris laughed as she struggled to keep up and bent over far enough to keep Lyrissa from falling. She toddled into her father's arms, laughing wildly he swung her up and around.

"You're my king, daddy!"

Beyond the toddler was a garden, and in that garden was a kneeling Lyrius as seven-year-old hands shoved a misshapen crown of flowers into his mass of hair, beaming as it finally stayed in place. "See? I made you king! Like mommy does!"

"Is that so?" He gave her a smile, tapping her own tiara nestled under her bangs. "What does that make you, then?"

"It makes me your little princess!" She giggled.

"Don't kings rule over princesses?"

"Na-uh!"

"I see." He bowed, low and formal and she stumbled through a curtsy back. "Then what is my princess' command?"

"Cake!" Lyrissa jumped into his arms without hesitating. "I want cake!"

"Then cake it shall be." He placed her on his shoulders and winced as she grabbed her hair, tiny feet banging his sides.

"Go, daddy king, go!"

Lyrius remembered that incident. It had taken Lyrissa most of the morning to finish the flower crown, as the stems had kept breaking and they ruined an entire rosebush in the process. He had kept the crown, pressed between the pages of her scrapbook.

"Try again, harder this time!" The command was punctuated with the crash of wood on wood.

Another memory, just past the garden.

"I will do it!" A girl with striking black eyes and ashen blonde hair, no more than ten, picked up herself up off the stone floor and wiped away the tear running down her cheek before raising the practice sword again. Despite the hit she had just taken and fresh tears in her eyes, the sword didn't waver. "I will defeat you!"

"You can." Lyrius raised his own practice sword. "Someday."

"No, it's now!" The girl leapt at him forcefully, their wooden weapons clashing strongly and she hammered away at his defenses endlessly. But his own weapon was always in the way and her frustration mounted with every second until with an angry cry, her weapon ignited and she sheared through his like it was paper…

 _She was so quick to adapt to her training._ Even now, the present Lyrius could not stifle the warm glow of pride he felt towards Lyrissa. _It would not be remiss to say that she was a prodigy._

Music drew him to the next memory, a small fire blazing one of Arcadia's beaches. Around it danced dozens of naked drow of varying ages, their bodies lithe and graceful even amongst the difficult footing of the sand. The music and dance swelled and pulsed like a living thing. He and Iris were watching at the edge of the firelight, shrouded by darkness.

A teenage Lyrissa danced in and among the drow, her steps not quite as sure or practiced as theirs, but no less eager and soon. She was moving and dancing as if she had been doing it for ages. Swept up in the song and its praises to the drow's goddess. And as she danced, she gained a new partner - a drow identical to her own age, hair of frosted silver whirling as she moved and starlight eyes the only light on her black skin.

"Of all the deities that could have taken an interest in our daughter, it would have to the one about redemption and self-love." Iris said from beside the present Lyrius and nodded at their past counterparts, both parents having recognized the new drow for who she really was. "For a moment, I thought if Eilistraee was going to have someone, she could have you, not Lyrissa."

"Funny, I thought the same thing." Lyrius waited a single beat as his wife started to nod. "If any were deserving of the lustful attentions of a goddess lavished upon, it would be I."

"You are quite lucky we are both dead, Lyrius or I would smite you with the power of my glower." Iris attempted to do it anyway, but it dissolved into a sighing smile as he just leaned forwards and kissed her cheek. Her gaze turned back to the dancing and their daughter. "I was proud of her, regardless of which deity it was, you know. To gain their attention is no mean feat and she had such potential...a high priestess was a good path for her."

"Even if that path would set her in opposition to us? Eilistraee is no friend of Graz'zt." Lyrius asked.

"Of course. It is a poor parent that cages their child on a set path. Just because we were forging our own with the Empire does not mean she would have to follow in our footsteps.

Lyrius gave her a sidelong look. "You speak like you never intended for her to take over the Empire."

The Shadow Queen was silent a long time before answering. "Perhaps...perhaps not. It was my Empire of Shadow and all in it belonged to me, husband and daughter alike. I was to live forever, why would I relinquish my greatest treasure?" Then she smiled and reached over to tickle the chin of their infant daughter in Lyrius' arms, prompting a happy coo from the baby. "And why would I ever burden this sweet face with such a bothersome responsibility? My daughter's face is for happy smiles, not stressful wrinkles."

Lyrius laughed a little at that, but his joy vanished at the solemn look on his wife's face. For a moment, he wondered what could be the source, but then her head dipped towards the infant in his arms and he knew.

It didn't matter if the Shadow Queen was going to hand over the Empire or not. Because Lyrissa would never have it.

A chill, grating breeze blew through the memories.

The blazing firelight went out and the music died a sudden, strangled death.

The practice blade clattered to the floor.

Petals floated off a crown of flowers as it drifted to the floor, bereft of an owner and already wilting.

The toddler vanished before she reached her father's arms.

And the bundled blanket in Lyrius' arms flapped useless and empty in the breeze.

There was a macabre beauty to watching the dawning horror on all four of the other father's faces as they grasped what had happened in perfect unison. Fear and panic were splattered across this striking portrait of adult despair as a single, panicked, begging scream pierced the darkness.

" _DADDY! HELP ME!"_

Lyrius closed his eyes even as his other selves all sprinted off in their own directions to find the source. Not that they would. That noise was the last he had ever heard of his daughter and as the days stretched into weeks that rolled into months that piled up into years of searching, he knew he would never find it.

But he was a father and his daughter was being taken. Even if this was a memory, she had cried out for him. Lyrius took a step forwards to join the search.

His foot collided with something before he could lift it fully free of the ground, setting off a chorus of empty clinking noises.

He opened his eyes, already knowing what he would see.

Bottles. An endless layer of empty bottles had replaced the other memories and it sprawled in all directions of the infinite darkness. Wine, brandy, mead, cheap, expensive, labels he knew and labels that hurt to look at, so alien was their script. It didn't matter. They held alcohol and so they could numb the pain.

"We lost her." Iris' voice was drained, hollow. Lyrius looked up at her, another bottle clenched in slender fingers like a lifeline. Her expression strained, tired in a way that her perfect magically beauty couldn't cover up. Even the storms in her eyes were slow, sluggish and no longer roiled with the insanity that had so defined her. "Someone came and took our daughter and we never found her. An entire Empire's worth of people, all the magical power of gods and demons and we could never find her."

She stared out at the expanse of bottles, shuffling her feet and lips curling into a scowl as the sound of their emptiness. "And for once in my existence, I cursed my immortality and perfection. When the years became a decade, I drank an ocean's worth of wine. But I could not become drunk, could not become numb, could not forget."

Her head lifted, gesturing at Lyrius with her half-empty bottle. "I hated you, you know. You never gave up, never caved into despair. Just kept pushing onwards, soldiering through the pain, chasing leads, rumors, scraps and hints. Hated how I knew your heart had be ripped from your chest, that you'd been hollowed out just like I was and even when you wept, you found strength in that. And all I could do was lament and curse my weakness."

The Shadow Queen's expression flickered with self-loathing lightning and bitterness soaked her tone. "I despise weakness, Lyrius. Moreso in myself than in anything else. I let myself be torn apart to be reshaped to remove any weakness and when I found any in myself, I purged it as a Queen should."

Lyrius watched as she took a drink from her bottle, ashen blonde color flickering inside for a moment as the contents shifted. A few pearl-gray drops dribbled from the corner of her mouth, the liquid rolling down that perfect skin and marring it like liquid ash.

He could not stop the hot, angry tears welling in his eyes or the low, hurt cold fury in his words. "You drank Lethe water, Iris. You drank that water and made yourself forget our daughter. Our Lyrissa. You abandoned her, abandoned hope!"

If the accusations got to her, Lyrius could not see it. He could have taken her anger or her dispassionate regalness or even an innocent curiosity. But nothing was as cruel or as wounding as the dismissive look as he wasted her time. "I have no idea who this 'Lyrissa' person is or why I should care."

"She was our CHILD!" The shout explodes out of him with a bust of his power, bottles exploding like small bombs in a whirlwind of glass that were shredded into dust by the living shadows. He took a stomp towards her and the ground buckled. "Our flesh and blood! Our HEIR! OUR GREATEST TREASURE! AND YOU WENT AND FORGOT HER BECAUSE YOU WERE A GODDAMN COWARD!"

"A child?" She gave him a cold sneer. "Why would I want something like that? Just another rival for my power, another weakness. If you want something like that, find a whore. I'll not sully myself-"

Lyrius' slap knocked the rest of the sentence back down her throat, the sharp crack echoing into the darkness.

She stared at him in a moment of shock so total that Lyrius decided she must have forgotten she was supposed into be in pain – good. That meant she'd finally listen.

"You were her mother!" He snapped in a tone so dark one of the remaining bottles that had survived his earlier wrath cracked apart like an egg. "But you could never see past yourself, could you? You couldn't bear the pain and ripped Lyrissa from your life like she was some kind of cancer! Loving your child is a weakness? Just another self-justification because you were inconvenienced! Even in your worst pain, the Shadow Queen couldn't just grieve in half-measures! You wiped even the pain from her loss from your mind! It was the most cowardly, detestable and self-serving thing I have ever seen you do, Iris and I will never forgive you!"

The words hung in the thickening silence between them as they stared hard at one another before Iris lifted a hand to her cheek and rubbed it gingerly. "You wish you had said those words to me a thousand years ago, don't you?"

"I should have…" Lyrius clenched his fists, head hanging as tears drizzled from his face. "I should have gotten angry, found a way to undo the Lethe water…"

"But you didn't. You took the water from me, deflected me when I questioned why I had it, and ignored me when I asked why your face was so pale." Iris watched his shoulders shake, repeating the words that tasted so wrong to him a thousand years ago. "'It is nothing, my Queen. You merely wanted to forget a rather embarrassing defeat. What would your Shadow do next?'"

"Before you drank it, you looked so miserable, your heart torn to pieces and I…I hesitated, just a moment too slow to keep you from taking even a sip…" Lyrius cursed and straightened, uncaring at how messy his face looked or whether she flinched from all his pain. "Why…why did you do it? Why did you forget her? You left me to suffer alone, to carry her memory…"

The Shadow Queen sighed before speaking in a quiet voice. "You know why. Because the Shadow Queen must be perfect. And perfection does not allow for failures or feelings. Because forgetting is easier than caring."

She glanced down at the bottle in her hand. "I had brothers, you know. That's what started me down the path to become the Shadow Queen. How the villagers denied us food and sympathy and safety and how their petty greed caused their deaths until I alone was left to swear vengeance in my brother's names."

She took a pull from the bottle and then let it drop to be lost amongst the mess surrounding them. " I forgot their names in the first six months of my campaign. I don't even remember what they look like. And I don't care that I don't know."

With that, she started off in no clear path, slogging her way through the bottles and debris without a care. Lyrius watched her go, and as he had so many times before, reluctantly fell into step behind her.

TTTTTTT

Serenity was starting to wonder if she was going to die again.

It had been like this…well, Serenity had long since lost track of the days. Dracula had dragged her around the globe, this being the latest in a series of excruciating tests. Chasing a gazelle across the plains of Africa. Sprinting across Amazon treetops as a horde of army ants scuttled dangerously below. Diving into icy Antarctic waters alongside penguins. A brutal sparring session in the thin air of a precarious mountain top. Stalking the vampire queen herself in the dark, deep depths of one of her remaining castles.

But this test might have been the most difficult one yet.

Serenity had to make Dracula dinner.

And not just any dinner. She had to make three courses of some American dish she had never heard of before and only got thirty seconds to look at each of the recipes. All of them had to be made in one hour.

"It is a test of how strong your familiar's connection to you is. It moves on subconscious thought, but what happens when your mind is overwhelmed? When you are uncertain about what you do and do not know? When there are distractions abound?" As always, the vampire's voice was audible over the surrounding noise of the jungle and the cello she had somehow produced out of nowhere. The vampire's playing was masterful and more than once, Serenity had been lulled into a semi-conscious awareness by a elegant lullaby only to be jolted back into alertness by a sudden switch to grating rock.

As a doctor, Serenity had to have intense focus and concentration, to ignore all outside distractions except the task at hand. After all, it was a life that was in her hands and it was a razor-thin line between success and death in a surgery.

Twenty years, however, had dulled her skills. Seasoning and preparing the meat had gone well and Instinct had tossed a salad and mixed a batter with skill that Serenity didn't know she had, but that was as far as she gotten. She had somehow confused the cooking steps and now there was a heap of burning lettuce on the grill while Instinct banged its head on the lid in frustration.

"Okay, I give!" Serenity slammed the utensils down so hard the table shook and folded her arms. "All I've done is ruin the food and give you another dozen reasons to smirk at me!"

Dracula ceased her playing, another such smirk on her face. "That is fine, doctor. This was an experiment. I was not expecting any success."

"Glad to have met expectations." Serenity fumed and stalked off to stand at the cliff's edge, Instinct vanishing into mist. Despite the amazing panoramic view of the jungle below and the setting sun, her irritation quelled only a little.

"You seem to be taking this a lot harder than you really should." Dracula moved to the table, turning off the grill and watching as the last bit of salad folded in on itself in a rather poetic death. "Any reason why?"

"I don't like failing." Serenity said without looking back. "And I just don't like the feeling I have that if _you_ had this familiar, you'd be handling all this a lot better than I am."

"I doubt that. A lot of my primal instincts are rather violent in nature. Stalking, hunting, killing, blood-drinking, that sort of thing." Dracula picked up a piece of meat, studying it with interest. "And knowing my possessive streak, I'd probably wind up trying to kill myself rather than share."

"That's still succeeding at something." Serenity huffed.

"Ah, so the root of the issue is that you have failed."

"I'm a doctor, Dracula. When I fail at things, people get hurt. Or die." Too many memories flashed in her head of exactly that and Serenity hugged herself. "So you don't fail."

"No one here is at any risk. There was no penalty for failing here." Dracula said.

"I know that, but it doesn't shake the feeling…" Serenity bit her lip, wishing her stress level would lower enough to let her enjoy the sunset. "I knew I was kind of falling apart in Satellite, but this kind of drove it home how far I've fallen. Even with my new power, I'm still struggling."

"I see." The vampire stepped up beside her. "Then let me offer you this, doctor. This training I an subjecting you to is not give you skills and talents to make you a hero from an anime or movie. It is to test your limits and your knowledge. I am creating a solid foundation on which to build skills and talents."

She offered Serenity a smile at the doctor's skeptical look. "If it helps, this is college before the internship. You'll get your practical experience soon enough."

"That doesn't make me feel too much better. Med school was hard. Eight sleepless years of my life." Serenity sighed. "I was so happy when I finally tapped into this power, but now I feel like it's no change at all."

"Perhaps, but only because you are still new to this world of magic and monsters. The steps forwards are small, filled with hesitation and uncertainty. In time and with training, you will stride with giants."

Serenity raised an eyebrow at the vampire. "Does that include you?"

Dracula smiled in a way that was both mysterious and threatening. "You may just get stepped on. But let us keep going." She pointed back at the table. "A different recipe, then. You will have one minute to study it."

Serenity sighed, but nodded and started for the table again. "I bet you aren't working Lyrius this hard."

"Trust me, his training is no less exhausting."

TTTTTT

Lyrius had never considered a lot of his experiences 'surreal' as many others did. Sure, he may have eaten his wife's heart as a marriage contract, come back as a ghost through sheer force of will and got a talking horse by punching her in the face, but with magic involved, that was just par for the course. The bar was set higher, so to speak and you just went with the flow because it was what it was.

 _However, if there was any moment that could set the standard for 'surreal' for me, it would be watching myself as a ghost watching my wife prepare my bones for burial._ Despite the fact he knew this was all a memory, Lyrius still felt the urge to be anywhere but here. Seeing it the first time had been heart-wrenching enough.

It had been three hundred years between his death and Iris' freedom from her own prison cell. Another four had gone by before she had the magical strength to remove the rubble he'd be caught under. By then, time had worked him over. Flesh and tissue had become dust, leaving armor and bone behind.

Grief had done much the same to the Shadow Queen. Bereft of her tiara and other jewelry save for the necklace he had given her, her clothing piled carelessly in a corner and the storms of her eyes gone to reveal blue eyes frozen in sadness, she looked small and frail. Fitting, perhaps, as her heart had been ripped out a second time.

There were no other mourners or people present. The Shadow Queen wouldn't have wanted anyone to ever see her weakness and Iris would have never trusted any but herself to care for her husband.

The ghost of Lyrius stood in the shadows, holding silent protective vigil carefully out of sight. The better to leave Iris to her work and as the present Lyrius knew, unable to think of anything to do or say that would not magnify Iris' grief.

"Why did you not possess your own skeleton?" The present Iris was seated with her husband on the stone steps leading into the tomb. There was a little strain to her voice and though her eyes had no pupils, Lyrius knew she was looking anywhere but the scene in front of them. "It would have given you mobility and the ability to interact with the physical world."

Lyrius mulled that question over for a bit, searching through his memory to find the answer. "I believe in part it was because the damage to my original body was severe and restoring it would have taken much of your limited remaining magic away."

"And the other part?"

"I felt that if I possessed my own body, it would have been harder for you. Being so close, yet so far from having me to touch or hold or embrace. As a ghost, at least, we could speak and there was a clear line between what we could and what we could not do. Allowing you to perform my burial gave you closure and peace of mind." Lyrius said after a long moment.

"It did." Iris agreed after another long moment. "I hated it. But it had to be done."

They fell silent, watching as the Shadow Queen produced a ceremonial dagger. She seized her flowing waterfall of golden locks near the nape of her neck, but cutting through the mass took more than one painful slash. There were tears in her eyes as she did so, though whether from the pain or the loss was impossible to tell.

She pulled the bundle into her lap and began to twist it it around her fingers, pulling it taut so she could start weaving it together. Her lips moved, stumbled, twisted and let out sobs and words in equal measure as she began to recite the funeral prayers.

Lyrius recognized the symbol then as he had now. The infinity sign, trapped inside a heart. Love eternal. The prayers were a spell that was threaded into the crafting process, to ensure your dearly departed would be protected in their eternal rest.

It was just as painfully touching now as it had been then. Even more so that Iris had painted herself with _cyphin_. In true Arcadian fashion, it was not the standard black that the rest of the world used as a mourning color. But bright pink, dark purples and shiny gold. The colors of love, royalty and value. They danced and swooped over her body in eclectic patterns that always found a way for the three to twine together without truly melding.

 _I am glad I have no memory of her preparing the cyphin._ Lyrius suppressed a shudder. A funeral _cyphin_ was made from the ashes of the dead and the blood of the relatives. But they had none and even if Iris was immortal, the amount of blood she would had to shed to make enough to cover herself was staggering. _And the tears she would have wept and the scraping of ash from my bones..._

The patterns tattooed into her naked skin were a different ritual than the usual strengthening one. They were a story, told through very old runes and symbols. It spoke of their first meeting, their love, their pain and their struggles. The ritual was a memory one, done to ensure that her memories of those moments would never fade or wane with time.

When the symbol was finished, she set it aside and began to lift her husband's bones and seat them with care into the coffin. There no more tears or sobs, just quiet reverence.

"Why are my bones black?" Lyrius asked half way through the process and the Iris at his side gave him such a reproving look that he had the urge to join his bones in the coffin. "My death did not involve fire, but my bones are black."

She frowned at him, disapproval so evident she might have been carved from stone.

"I will not have another opportunity to ask." Lyrius reminded her. "I do not plan on attending my own funeral for a third time."

Her face twisted in annoyance, but he knew that she just did not want to admit he was right. "Your bones are black due to the fact that our bond makes you receptive to my magic. And the Palace was saturated with it. After three hundred years, you would have become saturated in it. If I had revived you as a skeleton or resurrected you in your original body, your power would have been enormous."

"Why was that not the case?"

"I was not going to desecrate my husband's bones by turning him into a meaningless zombie!" She huffed at him irritation. "And true revival would have required a plasmamancy ritual that would have just as much chance as turning you into a mindless automaton!"

"It would have been a powerful servant and you had so few allies."

"I know you are a pragmatic man, Lyrius, but sometimes you take it too far!" Iris glowered at him as the past Iris fit the coffin lid into place and with inhuman strength, pushed it its resting place on the altar. "And this! From me! I chase my indulgences like a woman dying of thirst!"

"I think a better word would be 'passions', _malthenas._ " Lyrius said softly. "You never did anything in half-measure."

She fell silent, her expression unreadable. The past Iris walked between them and her gaze followed herself up the stairs before she nodded once. "Even grieving."

The scene shifted, cutting to her bathroom. The water was already running, steam roiling over the floor like mist. As they watched, the past Iris slid into the room. Her body was still covered in the _cyphin_ , the magical mixture having dried into her skin like genuine tattoos. Her hair was longer now, though it only reached half-down her back instead of her ankles like it had before.

"Do you know how long it was before I washed the _cyphin_ from my body?" The present Iris asked him as her past self paused just before stepping under the shower. "How long it was before I told myself I was ready to stop grieving?"

Lyrius nodded. "Five years."

"Five years." She confirmed, watching her past self's hesitation as she grabbed a cloth and soap. "I relived the memories our life together so many times, Lyrius. A hundred, a thousand, a million. The man I loved, the man who brought me happiness, who was my everything and then I would look at the ghost you were and inside, I would weep at all I had taken from you. Until my happy memories became self-loathing nightmares."

"What made you decide to stop?"

"Something you told me. That you wished for my happiness, even after death. That I could not move forwards looking back." Iris said, even as a small sob escaped her past self as she stepped under the water and began to wipe at her face. "The last part of the ritual is to cleanse yourself of it, to let go of what came before so that something new may be crafted in its place."

The water under their feet began to run with color, pale pink flecked with gold and blots of purple drifting like islands in the river.

Lyrius felt his heart lurch. He knew now why Iris had taken them through his life again. Shown him all his memories. _Happy memories that I now despair, for they remind me of all I have lost._

But they were his memories and all that he had. "I do not want this!"

"No one wants to change or let go, my love. That was my greatest failing in life. It will not become yours in my death." Iris told with a sad smile. "Haven't I done enough to you as it is?"

"I chose that path! I chose to stay!" Lyrius moved to towards her, flinching as the steam kicked up and swirled into true dark fog. "Iris!"

"It is time for to wash yourself clean, my beloved." Her voice was distant and he lunged through the darkness for her.

His hand felt something stiff and cold and the fog parted to reveal a skeleton in her place, its bones as black as his own had been. He kissed her anyways, feeling her arms fold around him, as warm and comforting as they had been while she was alive.

They parted and he gripped her tightly. "I do not want this!"

She tilted her head at him, twin tears running from those empty eyes and leaned forwards, planting a cold kiss on his forehead.

You may not want this, Lyrius. But you need this.

Then she was gone, crumbling to ash in his hands that became dust that was swept into the darkness by a cold wind. Scattered in infinite directions. Impossible to find, impossible to bring back.

Out of his reach.

Gone.

Lyrius sagged to his knees, feeling hot tears blaze trails down his face. His whole body shook with hurt and exhaustion. But the darkness around him offered no comfort. "How do I do this? You want me to wash myself clean! But I don't know how to do that…! You're all that I had! How do I let go?!"

 _Grieve._

"How? There is no _cyphin_ on my body, no funeral or pyre! Not even a body!"

Something rolled to a stop against his hand. He opened his eyes, wiped at them and picked it up, sorrow momentarily forgotten as he realized what the object was.

A paintbrush.

He stared at it, brain struggling to grasp why that, if this place was his own heart, his own head, it would show him a paintbrush as some way to grieve, when it sank in.

He had no body to bury, true, nor any way to give her a funeral. Nor would that be appropriate given her soul was still trapped somewhere.

But there was a way he could let go of the Iris he held in his heart. Even as he came to the realization, the world shift into a simple room. His old art studio. Paints and chalks and all manner of artistic material were stacked neatly in the cupboards, easels leaned against the wall.

And a single blank easel propped on a stand with his pallette next to it. Waiting for him.

Lyrius sat down and grabbed the palate, readying the brush. In this place, nothing he painted would be real or truthful. And to paint Iris was a monumental undertaking. He would only have one chance to do it in the real world.

But here, there was infinite time to practice.

TTTTT

"What do you mean, it's been twelve days!?"

Dracula wasn't flustered by Serenity's angry surprise or either of their naked bodies, reclining with a casual air on her couch as she popped the cork on a bottle of wine. "Training you takes a lot of time and effort, doctor. And I did leave you stranded on an iceberg for three of them. This isn't an anime or some story where a training montage can happen so we can just say twelve days have passed. You lived them!"

"We were jumping around the world so much I lost track of which side of it we were on! Day and night didn't seem to matter!" Serenity paused in mid-rant as a thought occurred to her. "Wait, you can _teleport._ "

"Yes. Any real magic user worth their salt takes the time to learn that eventually. Saves you a fortune in travel costs."

"But you teleported me around the world without much effort!"

"I've had thousands of years to get very good at it."

Serenity felt her eye twitch. "But we're traveling to America by _boat._ "

"I paid good money for my yacht. I'm not abandoning it just for convenience." Dracula poured herself glass of wine. "Also, I don't think teleporting into middle of a heavily-populated city would work out right now. We are, after all, naked."

"You destroyed all of our clothes!"

"I did. And yet, you survived without them in some of the harshest environments this planet has to offer. In fact, I would say…" Dracula raked her eyes over Serenity's body with a telling smile. "You came out looking much better than you when you went in."

Serenity no longer felt ashamed or embarrassed by the vampire's teasing or her flirtatious eye. But it still threw her when Dracula started laughing. "Excuse you?"

"You may have your emotional control and stoicism, doctor, " Dracula gestured over Serenity's shoulder. "But only the surface."

Serenity glanced over her shoulder to see that Instinct had manifested, the familiar having folded its arms in a pout and sticking its tongue at Dracula with all the dignity and fury of a child. Serenity herself went a little pink and vanished Instinct with a thought. "I guess there's a reason they say manners are something you learn and aren't born with."

"Indeed. And I am deciding I am out of manners for the moment." She gave the human a dismissive push away with her foot. "Go. Check on Lyrius. Let him ogle your renewed curves. And embrace your body's reaction to his raw masculinity."

Flushing even worse, Serenity clawed back her irritation. "Your hospitality needs some work, Dracula."

"I'm letting you have first dibs on the man. What's more hospitable than that?"

"He's not yours to offer," Serenity found her voice curt, as she turned her back on the vampire. "Remember that."

TTTTTTT

While Serenity had been gallivanting on a world tour of the Earth's most dangerous places, Lyrius had been somehow locked in a forced meditation for the same amount of time. She had no idea how Dracula managed to get two wildly different results from the same spell, but she had and done so in a way that Lyrius was no worse for the wear despite being unconscious for twelve days.

At least physically. She hadn't more than enough time to do a semi-decent examination of him before sleep had had happened, but she had noticed there was a quiet shift in his...presence, for lack of a better word. Before, she'd always felt him on edge, tangled and knotted while being stretched to the limit. Now there was a softness to his edges, a deep shadow that she hadn't noticed before. Soft and silken, capable of enveloping anyone in its quiet intensity-

 _Stop that, you are not just going to jump his bones. You aren't together and even if you have your twenty-year old body back, you aren't twenty in your head! And impulsive decisions have a habit of not working out! Remember that time with the Elvis impersonator? You found rhinestones in places they're not supposed to be for days._ She winced at how matronly her chiding voice sounded, as it felt at odds with her restored youth and the bounce in her step.

Lyrius wasn't too hard to find - the yacht, no matter how luxurious, had a limited amount of space and only a few of those spaces were big enough to hold a grumpy Nightmare. The deck was warming up slightly as the morning sun rose, but to Serenity's surprise, Resonae was nowhere to be seen. "Where's the brooding pony?"

"She feels bad that Dracula got the drop on her earlier, so she is off earning her redemption by catching dinner." Lyrius was sitting cross-legged on the deck and nodded out at the ocean.

Serenity peered over the railing, but there was no sign of the Nightmare anywhere in the surf. "I didn't know she could dive, let alone swim."

"She can. It is not graceful, but it is doable." Lyrius shrugged. "I have long since learned to not question how Resonae will accomplish something when she is determined."

"I bet." Serenity shifted on her heels, uncertain of what her intent in being out here really was. Dracula's suggestion, teasing and crass as it had been, was quite tempting and was not helped by the fact she was getting an eyeful of Lyrius' lithe build.

"You look...well." He said into the silence, pink crawling up his cheeks as he caught her out of the corner of his eye. "Astounding, even. Your Doctor Death pictures fail to do the real you any sort of justice."

Serenity went flush, feeling her body tingle at the praise and the expression on his face. "You can thank Iris for that. The magic of the necklace restored youth and vitality. Works better than any wrinkle remover I've ever tried."

"Magic has a way of going above and beyond." Lyrius confirmed. "What about your shadow magic?"

"Well, I'm not afraid of it anymore. And I've got a familiar now. And I can apparently survive without food, water, sleep and probably air..." She ran a hand through her hair. "Anything else is going to take some testing and experimenting, but this would already give doctors a lifetime worth of research. I'm not even sure where to start myself."

"So your magic spawns from your survival instincts. To survive, no matter the situation and leave you independent of outside circumstances." Lyrius said and blinked when Serenity huffed at him and folded her arms. "Pardon?"

"It took me all of my training to figure that out and you do it in two seconds." Serenity grinned as saw pink on his face again. "Is my nakedness bothering you?"

"No, it is merely distracting." There was a little smug quirk to his lips that Serenity was suspicious off and proven right in the next second. "As is mine to yours, given by your body's reactions."

Heat flushed her cheeks and Serenity suddenly plopped herself down so that she and Lyrius were back to back. "Fine! If we can't have a civil conversation while we're naked, then we'll just remove the distraction!"

"...your hair is very soft and warm."

"Yeah, well yours is nice and silky." Serenity scooted back so they were more upright and leaned her head back so she was resting it against the mat of his hair. "What about you? Did your training help?"

"Yes. Though I would hesitate to call it training. More like…" He paused, searching for the words. "Reflection. Approaching things from a new perspective."

"You need some of that." She agreed. "Did you get any?"

"Yes. I cannot frame it into words, but the shift I have undergone is relieving. Like a burden has been lifted from my shoulders, a blindfold removed. I know what I have to do now."

There was such a certainty in his words, the kind of confidence that you couldn't fake. Serenity found she liked hearing it. "What is it you have to do, then?"

"Say goodbye to her." Lyrius shifted against her back. "I have a plan to do so in Vegas. I may need your help, Serenity."

"I don't know what I can do, but I'll help." She assured him, feeling a strange weight settle on her heart. _Why do I feel happy that the man I'm crushing on is asking me for help in grieving for his dead wife?_ "What's the plan?"

"Art."

Serenity blinked. "I didn't know you drew."

"There are many things you do not know about me, Serenity." There was a lilting tease to his tone and she felt her heart flutter at his next words. "I look forwards to sharing many with you in the very near future."

"That sounds like fun." Serenity leaned back on her hands, scooting one back towards as she bit her lower lip. "And when you're done with this grieving thing, what do you want to do? What will you do then?"

"I have been informed that part of grieving is learning to move forwards. I was hoping to enlist your help for that, too."

"Definitely happy to help with that." She promised and felt her breath hitch a little as his own hand brushed against hers. "I don't mind sharing the future with you."

"I have a hard time imagining mine without you in it." His voice was soft, but there was undercurrents of powerful emotion in there.

"Good. Because I don't intend to let you run off anywhere. You've changed my life so much, Lyrius, in ways I couldn't even dream of. And as painful as its all been, it...makes me happy. I feel _alive_ again. More like myself than in decades. And I do not want to lose that." She pushed her fingers towards him, feeling them brush over the tops of his. "Or you. Not ever."

"I know. That means so very much to me, Serenity. I don't want to lose you, either." His fingers threaded into hers and gave her a strong squeeze, a little catch in his voice. ""But...it would be best to wait a little, wouldn't it?"

"...yeah." The sigh that escaped Serenity didn't carry away the warm fuzzy butterflies dancing in her heart, but it did cage them in common sense. "We've gone through a lot of changes recently. And neither of us is in a good headspace for a relationship."

"Good things come to those wait."

"You say that, but I guarantee that the next few months are going to feel like the last twenty years to me. Ugh...I hate being mature about this stuff." Serenity closed her eyes and leaned back against him. "You smell delicious, you know that? Like vanilla…"

"Thank you." There was a pause and then a sheepish sigh. "I do not know what you smell like."

"That's because you don't want to know what my naked body has been into the last twelve days. I really need a shower." Thoughts of asking him to to join her pulled a smile to her lips, but she quashed the urge to give them voice. "If I had a choice, though, I'd like to smell of honeyed peaches. Just the right amount of sweet and succulence."

Lyrius snorted. "'Succulent' is a method of describing taste, not smell."

"Taste is like eighty percent smell. And it doesn't stop people from putting it on my shampoo bottles." Serenity giggled as she felt his body shift with a huff of annoyance. "You'll love it when I finally get my hands on some, trust me. Doctor's orders, even."

"You can't order me to love something."

"Says you. _I_ have the prescription pad and the medical jargon to make your head spin."

"You do that just by smiling."

"Ugh, you're a sap!" Serenity couldn't help but flush despite her protest and her caged butterflies danced a little harder.

They failed to make an escape attempt, though, as there was a heavy clattering from the bow. They both watched as a pair of flaming hooves looped themselves over the railing, followed by Resonae's resolute face with something clenched in her teeth. With a mighty heave, she dragged her prize around to her front, so that with all the pride and majesty of a real ruler, she could haul it onto the yacht and present to the other two. ( _I have caught dinner!)_

Serenity gawked at the fish the Nightmare had thrown down. "Is that...that's a _swordfish!"_

 _(Bah.)_ Resonae tossed her head to draw emphasis to her horn. _(It only thought that's what it's name was! It did not truly grasp that it was 'food' until I wrested it up from the murky depths and made it bleat in terror at the open air where there is no escape from me!)_

"I- you- that's-" Serenity glanced between swordfish and unicorn. " _That_ is a fish! From the ocean! And you are a horse! From dry land! How can you even swim?"

 _(Very well, metal human.)_ Resonae responded promptly, whickering a round of laughter at her own joke.

"You are a FLAMING HORSE!" Serenity got up, marched over to Resonae and pulled a handful of her flaming mane around so she could see it. "Literally, your are on fire! Why did these not go out? Why are they not even wet? How did you even get back _onto_ the boat once you caught the fish! You can't climb the ladder! You have hooves!"

Resonae blinked slowly, first at the tuft of flaming mane in Serenity's hand, then at Serenity's confused outrage. And pouted. _(Does this mean we are not going to cook the dinner I caught?)_

Serenity felt her eye develop a twitch. "I-I-I...what!?"

"Thank goodness for hardwood decking." Lyrius said, stepping around the puddle that spreading from the soggy Nightmare. He was already studying the swordfish, finger tapping her chin in speculation. "And I can cook this. I may need one of Dracula's swords to cut off bits, but I can grill this. Serenity, do you know of any good seasonings or recipes that the Japanese use for swordfish?"

Serenity wasn't listening as she was trying to get Resonae to answer her questions. "Swordfish are deep-sea fish! How did you even swim down that far without needing to breathe? How did you even see!?"

Resonae whickered again. _(If you don't want your portion of the fish, metal human, I am going to eat it no matter what Master says.)_

"I don't understand you, Resonae!"

The Nightmare preened. _(Then all is as it should be.)_

Serenity let out a scream of frustration.

TTTTT

 _A/N:_ _Did I tell you emotions are hard to write? 'Cause they are. People are so complicated. I should really stick to simpler things. Like card games._

 _But I'm not the only one who needs some rest and relaxation, our main characters do as well! So...next stop: Viva La Vegas!_

 _Chapter 18: Vegas, Baby!_


	18. Vegas, Baby!

Kintsugi  
By 7th Librarian

Chapter 18: Vegas, Baby!

"There's a Shadowkind hotel in Las Vegas." Serenity stared at the glittering, gaudy and glitzy exterior that was decked out in golds and reds with sparkling blue lettering proudly proclaiming it to the _The Stardust Hotel._ "Of course there's a Shadowkind hotel in Las Vegas."

"You did not expect Dracula to stay anywhere else?" Lyrius asked. "She enjoys her creature comforts. Knowing her, she's already snagged herself the penthouse on the top floor and the second most expensive rooms for us."

Serenity thought back to the luxury of the yacht they'd traveled on and even the expensive-clothing that the vampire had arranged for their arrival in California. "She spends money like most people drink water. I suppose being immortal means you can watch investments pay off."

"Nothing so mundane. I am sure she simply looted a few kingdoms of their treasures over the years. She is a creature of whim, after all. When we were dating, one of the dates she picked was a heist to steal some crown jewels that ended with us plummeting out of a burning airplane at fifty thousand feet."

"That was a _date_?"

"Going out to dinner was too boring. And once we had the jewels, do you know what she did? Gave them right back the next day. She'd just wanted to see if she could steal them." Lyrius shook his head. "She showed the same level of investment grocery shopping one week when she had to cook for human guests. Half a million spent on food, dishes and a full day of cooking. For nine people."

Serenity couldn't restrain the low whistle. "I know you guys told me vampires are creatures of excess and wealth, but this is another level entirely. How much money does she actually have?"

"Enough that it's too much trouble to count all the zeros trailing after it." Lyrius picked up his suitcase. "Why don't we go inside and enjoy the overflow from her cup of wealth before she decides that we have to pay back with installments at her blood bank?"

He found his progress halted as something cool and silken wrapped itself around him and it wasn't until he felt something nuzzling at his back that he realized that Serenity's familiar had wrapped herself around him. "Serenity?"

"Sorry, sorry." Serenity willed Instinct back into nonexistence with a sheepish grin. "I'm kind of jealous towards Dracula getting to suck your blood and I guess I feel kind of protective…"

"You can suck my blood if you think it would help."

Serenity opened her mouth to answer, then snapped her jaw shut as Lyrius lifted an eyebrow at her. She was no vampire, but she could still not suppress the shiver down her spine at the noises Lyrius had made while being fed upon.

"Was my suggestion error? I only meant to level the playing field."

"No, no, it's not you. Just that I don't think you get that a rivalry between women isn't so easily solved with words." _And the fact you keep inadvertently pushing my 'kinks I didn't know I had' button without even trying._

"This is true." Lyrius agreed and nodded at the hotel. "Shall we go inside and bask in the opulence?"

"Yes, please." Serenity watched him go, blinking as she realized Instinct was now stalking him, revealing a hungry look and a mouth full of fangs as the familiar licked its lips. Blushing furiously, she banished Instinct away and stuffed it into a mental box.

"Serenity?"

"Coming!"

TTTTTT

The word 'opulence', Serenity found, was almost a disservice to the hotel. It was that much more than she expected. It would have been quicker to list the things in the lobby that weren't made out of marble or brass. The entrance was lined by the reception and concierge desks like some kind of guard of honour, before widening out into a large round lounge area. Dominating the space was a huge sculpture made of white crystal which reached all the way up to the high ceiling and seemed to be oozing water out of it's pores into the fountain that encircled it's base. Comfortable armchairs and couches were scattered around it, filled mostly with businessmen tapping away at phones or laptops. A bar was tucked in one corner next to the glass elevators. Serenity's eyes followed one all the way up to the tenth floor, watching the doors open and a cluster of what appeared to be several elves on a bachelorette party practically leaping out in excitement, and one of them nearly losing her handbag over the edge of the mezzanine.

The doctor resisted the urge to whistle like a complete tourist, and settled for a small smile. "Damn that's impressive."

"Glad you think so," she jumped as Dracula came swanning up to them, apparently out of nowhere. "I only choose the best."

"By 'choose', you mean 'purchase'." Lyrius corrected.

"Nonsense. What would I ever do with a hotel besides stay in it? I merely rented rooms like anyone else." Dracula said as she passed out keycards to the other two.

Serenity glanced at hers and the floor number, her jaw dropping a little. "The Presidential Suite? That has to be the most expensive room in the place!"

"Second, actually, after my Penthouse suite on the floor above. And Lyrius got the suite across from yours." Dracula seemed all too-pleased with herself as Serenity's expression grew more shocked. "Come now, doctor, we just spent two weeks cramped together on a yacht and before that, a miserable little island. After experiences like that, we need room to spread ourselves out."

"I am surprised you simply did not just pair me with you and leave Serenity on her own." Lyrius commented as he pocketed his card.

"Too easy. It's much more fun when you come waltzing in to help yourself to me." Dracula's smile was sultry and wicked as she tilted her head, catching Serenity's eye. "That applies to you as well, doctor."

"Ah-whu, me?!"

"Yes. I am not some jealous anime character trying to thwart you at every turn, I am Dracula. And I have love enough for all." She smiled with half-lidded eyes. It bared her fangs and should have been silly or a little creepy. But instead it was dark and seductive, the kind of smile that knocked down your self-restraint. "And I did say I was honor-bound to correct Castiel's mistake in the most... _expedient_...way possible…"

Serenity felt a quiver in her core thanks to a sudden spike of lusting want at the intentions in Dracula's ruby eyes and the thoughts of those fangs on her newly-restored, untested body. _Seriously, what is it with these two and pushing my 'oh god that sounds hot' buttons? Or is it because my shadow magic is resonating with two like individuals?_

That little theory got her doctor's mind working, but she didn't get very far on a hypothesis as Lyrius spoke up, a cute little frown on his face. "For someone who regards themselves beyond human norms, you seem remarkably like a hormonal teenager, _harlot_."

"This body of mine isn't just for appearances, songbird." Dracula gave him smoldering look, sighing with good nature as he just lifted an eyebrow and folded his arms. "Excuse me for wanting to be passionate with people I actually like and embrace life. It is has been far too long since any of us have gotten laid, I'm sure."

"Serenity and I are not here to simply have a good time. We're here to register for a Duel Monsters tournament and work on unlocking the dragons I - _we_ \- have." He corrected with a glance to Serenity's deckbox. "It starts in two days. We should move into our rooms and then go fill out the registry forms forthwith."

"So practical." Dracula shook her head with an amused smile, her eyes lighting up as a thought occurred to her. "Afraid if we loiter too long, the universe will get bored and introduce _another_ of your exes?"

Lyrius look so stricken at the thought that Serenity burst into a fit of giggles which quickly became full-on laughter as he rounded on her with an annoyed look. "I do not know why you find that funny, Serenity. The last time my exes were introduced, we wound up fighting for our lives."

"It's funny because you're Lyrius." Dracula informed him, snickering herself when he gave her an arch look. She patted him on the shoulder. "It's okay if you do not understand it. Just accept it."

"I suppose I shall, because I have the feeling that this 'joke' about my love life is not going anywhere anytime soon."

"Now you're catching on." Dracula smirked and started for the elevators, the two humans trailing after her.

TTTTTTT

The room Dracula had picked out for him may as well have been an apartment in all but name. High-quality furnishings, hardwood floor, expensive art, a half-kitchen, a full-bathroom and more all screamed the expensiveness of the place and the amount of idle luxury it afforded.

Lyrius figured he wouldn't use even half of the items and was more interested in the occupant that was sprawled over the entire length of one of the plush couches. "How did you know which room was mine?"

 _(Magic.)_ Resonae lifted her head, resting her chin on the back of the couch and watching Lyrius pace around the room and check everything. _(I have already inspected much of this place, Master. There are no dangers, magical or otherwise and no human spying devices.)_

Lyrius paused, halfway through his inspection of the wine rack and gave her a look. "Now how do you know what those are?"

 _(I am old. And with age comes wisdom.)_ Resonae smiled. ( _And movies. Lots and lots of movies.)_

"...what." Lyrius just stared at her.

Resonae kept smiling and wriggled her ears. ( _I would be no fun if I did not have secrets, Master.)_

Lyrius shrugged it off, getting the feeling that if he pressed the subject, his mount was just going to ignore it. "Why would you check for those, Resonae? Most of my enemies are magical, not Mundane."

 _(The Veil works only one way, not both. It is a foolish thing to simply assume your enemies will stick to what you both know simply because it is what you both know.)_ Resonae told him. _(And you have no shortage of enemies.)_

"And you think we'll be finding them in Vegas?"

 _(More that they will find you. On Satellite, the lingering energies of the Earthbound Immortals hid your own. The same with Duelist Kingdom and its sordid past along with the presence of Dracula. But that is also because you yourself were weak, damaged. Now, your presence is whole again. It is a pulse that ripples across the magic of the area that those who seek you out are sure not to miss.)_

Lyrius stopped again, staring at Resonae. He had never heard her speak in such a serious tone before. Nor with so much logic and reason.

She met his gaze, her golden eyes seeming to suck him in with an agelessness he hadn't noticed before. _(You are a cub no longer, Master, no sheep content to stay in the herd. You have fang and claw now, becoming a predator. And the predators around us will not tolerate your rise. To protect our herd, you must become the Alpha, the apex. It cannot be avoided, even if you wish it. You are a threat and they will seek to eliminate you as a matter of course.)_

So that was it. She was worried about him. "Be that as it may, I have no intention looking for trouble. It finds us with frightening ease as it is."

As if summoned by his words, a sharp, high scream ripped through the air. Both of them recognized it as Serenity's voice and were out the door before it had even began to fade. Her room wasn't far from his, just down the hall and Lyrius barely had presence of mind to use the spare keycard she'd given him on the door before throwing it open. He burst into the room in a whirl of killing intent and magic, a snarling feral Nightmare right behind him. "Serenity?"

The doctor was two steps away from her bed, upon which her half emptied duffel bag sat. Lyrius felt a chill run down his back as he realised that beneath the black canvas, something was moving around. Standing protectively in front of his friend, he nodded to Resonae, and watched as she marched over, mane flaring in readiness for battle, and yanked the flap back with her gnashing teeth.

In a second, her flames had brightened even more.

( _Fluffy!_ )

And with a delighted flourish, she reached into the bag with her teeth, and pulled a bedraggled tabby cat out by the scruff of its neck.

"...I suppose I should be pleased she did not try to eat it." Lyrius said, part of him feeling a strange sense of disappointment. Behind him, Serenity let out a heavy sigh of relief.

( _Master!)_ Resonae had caught the tabby between her forehooves, gave him a motherly glare. ( _Cats are not for eating!)_

"You are licking it." Lyrius sighed as Resonae just went back to cleaning the cat with her tongue and looked towards Serenity. "Are you okay?"

"Well, I can feel my heart still beating, so still alive." She raked a hand through her hair with another sigh. "Sorry about the scream. You'd think after all I've been through, I'd be more composed."

"Surprises wouldn't be so if they didn't cause us to lose our composure." Lyrius assured her. "So am I to assume the cat is _not_ yours?"

 _(It belongs to the herd now!)_

Serenity rolled her eyes before speaking. "I would have mentioned if I bought a pet, Lyrius. I'm guessing that it got into the bag when Dracula had her minions buying our new stuff." She crossed the room and rescued the poor creature from Resonae's ministrations. The feline immediately began to purr. "Used to being handled. It must be somebody's pet."

"Or a stray used to handouts." Lyrius suggested, ignoring the heavy pout Resonae gave at the loss of her new playmate. "I do not see a collar."

"Might be chipped," Serenity shrugged, smiling as the cat tucked it's head in her neck and purred louder. "I'll take it to the vet. See if they can find out."

( _You will do no such thing!_ ) Resonae declared, taking several steps in Serenity's direction.

"Oh yes I will, pony." She was all brusque doctor now and that gave Resonae pause. "We can't just take in a cat without making sure it doesn't belong to someone else. That's not right. And even if we could, I'd want to make sure its not needing any shots or medicine. Or neutering, if possible."

"I think the cat heard you." Lyrius offered as the animal's purring stopped for a moment, although that could have been from the way Resonae tossed her head in affront.

 _(Bah! You humans and your need to control things. Nature is as nature does. Meddling with it has consequences.)_

"Not everyone is a half-ton war mount capable of biting through steel." Lyrius said, having already pulled out his phone and flipping through a portion of Google maps. "Would you like to go now, Serenity? There's a vet not far from the place where we need to register for the tournament. We can do both and get them out of the way."

"Sounds good to me." Serenity giggled as the cat tickled her chin with her ears. "C'mon, you. Let's make sure you go to a good home."

Resonae snorted, stomping her hoof. _(I say we raise it ourselves. It was in your bag, that makes it ours.)_

Lyrius shook his head at her. "We'll get you another cat if this one has an owner, Resonae."

 _(So what? I LICKED it! That makes it MINE!)_

TTTTTT

"You know, now that the cat is yours, you better lick her before Resonae finds out."

"I don't need to lick my cat to claim her. I just had her chipped and gave her a collar." Serenity informed him and cooed down at the bundle of fluff in her arms. "And you like hanging out with me rather than that big horse who thinks you're nothing but a fuzzy lollipop, don't you, Therapy?"

The cat purred loudly and made itself more comfortable in her arms.

"Why did you name the cat Therapy?"

"I was always recommending therapy animals to my patients, they're dead useful and can help a lot with someone's well-being. After all I've been through, I think it's time I tried it myself. So the name is a reminder of her job in our little herd." Serenity scratched behind Therapy's ears. "You're gonna learn a lot of secrets from everyone, yes you are, yes you are."

Lyrius wondered what was it about small, fuzzy animals that just shaved IQ points off in hunks from intelligent people. The cat was certainly cute and fluffy, but it was just a cat. It wasn't magical. He'd checked.

 _Yet, I seem to have fallen under its spell. If only by proxy._ Lyrius sighed to himself. Serenity, after learning the cat had no owner, had quickly claimed her for herself and gone on a spending spree. The result of which was a variety of cat food, two bowls, a spare collar, cat toys and more, fitted into a very large cat carrier that he had been somehow roped into carrying. "Would it not make more sense to put the cat in the carrier and carry the other things? So you do not have to worry about losing her."

"I doubt she's going to go running off into traffic, Lyrius. She's very much a people cat - she's hardly left my arms." Serenity rolled her eyes. "And I've seen you lift more than half a ton of weight. That kitty carrier is probably as light as a feather to you."

"But it is not _my_ kitty carrier."

"Well, then, you're being a gentleman and good friend by carrying it for me. Doctor's orders." She nodded to make it official.

Lyrius sighed again. "You will have to hold it once we get to the registry building. One of us has to sign in and fill out the paperwork."

"I'll do it and you can sit with Therapy on your lap." Serenity said. "Your cursive is hard to read, anyway."

"It is perfectly legible. It is not my fault the standards for quality writing have diminished over the centuries. And I do not want to sit with the cat in my lap."

"Of course you do. You just don't know it yet." Serenity grinned down at Therapy as Lyrius snorted. "Don't worry, girl. You'll win him over. He's actually a sucker for cute female."

Therapy chirped back at her and purred.

"That may be a problem, Serenity."

"Hey, you can only take your brooding angst machine act so far, mister. And since I don't see you cuddling Resonae in your lap, you're going to take a turn with Therapy!"

"That's not what I meant." Lyrius gestured to the scene in front of them. "I do not think we are going to be able to register for the tournament."

"Why the hell not? I didn't spend weeks worth of travel time just to not-" Serenity broke off as she lifted her head. "Oh."

The tournament hall was surrounded by barricades and two police cars with their lights flashing. Inside it, an ambulance was backed up to the steps while uniformed officers went in and out of the building. Several looked to be taking statements and a few others were keeping an eye on the slowly growing crowd of gawkers. Nearby, a news van was parked while a report was speaking into a camera. "- the organizer of the Las Vegas Gamble For The Stars Tournament, William Hurst, was found dead just a few hours ago and a spokesman for the company has said the in light of the tragic event, the tournament has been delayed while other sources-"

"What a terrible run of luck." Lyrius said as the scene unfolded in front of them. He could see several angry duelists on the far side of the barricades, muttering and talking amongst themselves. And a quaking young man talking to one of the officers, looking like he was about to knot his handkerchief so hard it would rip. "And a tragedy."

"Okay, I'm starting to think I should have never left Satellite. Everywhere I go with you, we seem to run into dead bodies." Serenity grimaced in sympathy as a gurney with a body bag atop it was wheeled carefully out of the building. "That poor man."

"I looked into the tournament while we were traveling. Mister Hurst, by all accounts, was just a businessman who made a living organizing events and was hosting this one for a charity network. Who would kill him over a simple tournament?"

"I know you're not a major player of the game, Lyrius, but I have to inform you that Duel Monsters tournaments are not always cut-and-dry. Most of the ones I worked in as an Eliminator had enough grudges and schemes to be a soap opera, and the ones that didn't still have some backroom dealings - Eliminators taking bribes, theft, trading, Rare Hunters, you name it." Serenity said. "Just like any other major enterprise, Duel Monsters has its fair share of corruption. If Hurst was killed over something connected to the tournament, it wouldn't surprise me."

"Well, well, well, look what the cat dragged in."

The pair turned towards the easy-going voice behind them and Serenity's first thought was that this man was very handsome. Boyish good looks, golden hair and a charming smile rounded out by the jeans and collared shirt he worn. If she hadn't know better, she'd have thought he walked off a Calvin Klein advertisement.

Her second thought was _Oh, this is what an elf looks like. Their ears really are pointy!_

The elf approached Lyrius with a grin. "Fancy running into you here, old man. I'd have thought an uptight stick-in-the-mud like you'd have combusted walking into the land of fun and vice that is Sin City."

"Since I have not yet ignited, perhaps now you'll believe my claims that I do have fun on occasion." Lyrius' response was warm, for him at least. But it still threw Serenity a bit at how easy a smile appeared on his face. "It is good to see you again, Solex."

"Good to be seen! Especially by old friends." Solex said as they shook hands and then his blue eyes alighted upon Serenity. "And good to be seen by potential new friends, too. Just who is this lovely lady that you've bespelled, Lyrius?"

"Serenity is not bespelled." Lyrius said with a sigh at Solex's teasing grin. "She's my friend and here of her own volition."

"Really? 'Cause with all the social skills you have, you couldn't convince water that it wants to be wet." Solex's grin grew as Serenity giggled and Lyrius huffed. "Oh, you know it's true, old man! Remember that time with the basilisk? Which one of us managed to convince it that we humble mortals wanted to listen to the tale of how it defeated that sea snake and got it so worked up it released us from its coils to re-enact the fight?"

"You." Lyrius admitted. "But I am the one who had the mirror that caused it to turn it to stone! And I distinctly recall having to kill that chimera that laughed off your attempts to fast talk the heads into attacking each other."

"Tomatoes, tamatoes. You're still terrible at following up on social graces. Like introducing two of your friends to each other." The elf waved off the story and extended his hand to Serenity. "I'm Solex Delamare."

Shifting Therapy around in her arms to get a hand free gave her some time to think. This man knew Lyrius, so introducing herself as Serenity Stormcloud might be problematic but not sticking to the cover story could also cause problems down the road. Instead, she settled for the easy route. "I'm Serenity. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Pleasure is all mine, I assure you. It warms my heart to find out that Lyrius is capable of making new friends." He said with a conspiratorial smile, earning another giggle from Serenity. "And just who is your delightfully fluffy four-legged feline friend?"

He reached for Therapy, but the cat had apparently reached her allotted patience for human contact today, crawling over Serenity's shoulder and jumping down into her cat carrier for a bit of peace.

"Sorry." Serenity said at Solex's disappointed look. "She's been poked and prodded by everyone I know today and the vet took their time checking her out."

"It's fine, cats are fickle, anyway." He watched the cat nestle her way between the bag of cat food and a bed like a giant orange sponge. "And amazing. I don't know how that can be comfortable for her."

"I don't know. You seem to find sleeping in trees perfectly acceptable." Lyrius drawled, smirk when Solex gave him a look of irritation.

"I'm a Solar Elf. Nature is my home."

"And your very far from it at the point." Lyrius pointed out. "Just what are you doing in Vegas, Solex? Following up another bounty?"

"Well, I _was_ , but someone else got to him before I could." Solex nodded at the crime scene behind them. "Hurst had some skeletons in his closet and renged on some debts he owed to bad people. I was hired to figure out who those people were and see if I could clear them."

"That sounds more like a job for an accountant than a bounty hunter."

"You'd think that, but this case has got more twists to it than a pretzel. It's good I ran into you, in fact. I could use some help and -" He caught himself, frowning and then waved his hand at him. "No, no sorry, old man. You're here on your own thing. And you walked away from this kind of life. Not my place to try and suck you back in."

"Our business was related to yours. We were going to participate in the tournament, but that has clearly fallen through. I haven't seen you in some time, Solex. We should catch up and you can tell me about it. I may not offer my actual help, but my advice is free." Lyrius offered, then added with a hasty glance at Serenity. "If that's alright with you?"

"Yeah, sure. Definitely. I'm just glad that _this_ person from your life isn't another ex-lover." Serenity told him, pausing to flick a glance at Solex. "...you aren't, are you?"

"Not in the least. I am strictly a ladies man." Solex said, then winced. "But not like a 'ladies ladies' man. I just like women."

"And beautiful men." Lyrius said with a low grin.

"I didn't know it was you in that dress!" Solex protested. "And you're the one who kept leading me on!"

"You said I had no social skills. How was I to learn them without practical experience?"

"Yes, but- that, you - okay, fine, fine, you got me!" He sighed and let out a little laugh as Serenity giggled again. "I'll stop making cracks about your social skills."

"Thank you. Now we can go have our chat." Lyrius turned towards Serenity. "I have my phone if anything happens. Don't let Resonae make off with your new pet. Can you find your way back to the hotel?"

"Not a problem." Serenity nodded, then bit her lip. "You text me when you're coming back to the hotel, yeah? Not for nothing, but given our last few experiences in places where we were supposed to relax and be safe…"

"I promise to tell you when I'm coming home." Lyrius said, starting off down the street and grabbing Solex's shoulder as the elf glanced between them with a curious look. "I will tell you the story later, Solex. I'm sure you'll love it. It involves women, vampires and Duel Monsters."

"Women, as in more than one? Does Serenity have a sister?"

"That was crass."

"Hey, if an ice cube like you can get her attention, a guy like me - ah, ah okay, okay, I'll stop! Just let go of my ear!"

TTTTTT

Diners populated the interstates and freeways that had once been the veins and arteries of the American West Coast. In their heyday, hundreds of thousands of truckers, vacationing families, sightseers and would-be movie stars criss-crossed the roads to see the glory that was Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Yellowstone and more. But the roads were long stretches of desert sand, far-off mountain ranges and heat - all things that could suck a man's strength and soul. That's why these greasy spoon diners existed - the food was hot, the coffee strong and beer cold. Pit stops that could revitalize the soul better the word of God.

But once air travel had become the way to go, the interstates had wilted away to nothing but cargo routes, biker gangs and the occasional photographer. The diners still persisted, severing the angry road hogs as easily as they had vacationing two-point-three kid families. It didn't matter if you were the meanest son-of-a-gun on two wheels and could bite a chain in half, or you drove from Maryland to Arizona so often you knew all the potholes by name. You still had to eat and so the diners were willing to serve you.

Even if you were a wanted criminal.

 _Not the best place for a last meal._ Andy Markova glanced over the diner's menu, noting that about thirds of it involved hamburgers and of them, most of the options were 'Did you want bacon and cheese with that?', 'Add enough bacon and cheese and you'll forget a burger is in there' up to 'Look, just forget the burger. And the bun. Just take all the pig.' _Heart attack waiting to happen._

"You call this coffee black? It's as weak as Santa Claus's ass is pale!"

"Sorry, hun, can't make a new pot 'till this one's drier than a Nevada graveyard. You want milk instead?"

"Naw, none of that cow juice crap. Don't need any calcium. Just gimme a cold beer."

"This early in the mornin'?"

"Hey, I work nights, lady. So my five'o'clock somewhere is here and now! And make it two!"

 _Not that it matters to him._ Andy lowered the menu enough so that he could peer over the top at his target. Covered head to toe in a leather duster and matching fedora, bandages and belts poked out around the battered garment alongside muttered curses as he tried to fit the thick glovered fingers into the handle of the coffee mug Though he couldn't see his target's face, Andy knew the bandages covered that too and a pair of red-tinted goggles were over his eyes. Easy enough to assume the man was a major burn victim with an aversion to sunlight.

Or at least, that was the _safe_ assumption that someone like the bothered waitress filling the mug, and the truckers grumbling at him would make. Safe because it gave you reason to pity him, to keep your distance out of the idea that the man had suffered enough and didn't need you bothering him with your sympathy. Safe because people would always choose easy convenience over complicated results and so no one wanted to really question why every time the man moved, there was a soft, rattling creak of metal. Or why the edges of the bandage wrap were stained with black that was probably motor oil and grease.

 _The words 'It's not my problem' are a greater spell on people than the Veil could ever be sometimes._ But Andy wasn't going to ignore Joka and he could see beyond the Veil at what the man really was under all that leather and nasty attitude. A cyborg for-hire assassin and wanted for a string of murders, robberies and worse in nearly all fifty States.

Picking a fight in the diner was just going to get people killed, though and it was enough at this point to have found Joka. Tailing him would be even easier, so Andy closed the menu and dug into his scrambled eggs. They were thick and had a poor salt-to-egg ratio, but they were cheap and could be peeled off his throat with a mouthful of the orange juice that had come with his meal. The OJ, at least, had come in a carton that he was reasonably sure wasn't past its due date.

Joka didn't seem to have any problem with the food, having inhaled a plate of hash and eggs that should have burnt his tongue off, and followed it up with a breakfast burger that was practically mush from the amount of grease on it. The coffee had come with a third order, this time pancakes that were drowning in butter and syrup. Joka had demolished them whole.

He was hefting his plate, eyeing it up and probably consider that if he couldn't lick it clean, he could pour the sop of butter and syrup into the hole in his mask. "Hey, you got a funnel, hot tits?"

"Nope." The waitress said, slamming a beer on the table in front of him.

Joka abandoned the plate, grabbing the neck of the bottle and chugging it down before sputtering and dropping to the counter with a disgusted noise. "Hey, this crap's warm! What gives!"

"Look, hun, you ain't getting anymore till you start showing how you're going to pay for all this."

"Oh, that." Joka let out a breath that rattled something on his interior. "Yeah, fine, whatever. That's okay. I got plenty of money."

"I'd hope so - you got enough pockets on that coat." The waitress drummed her pencil on her pad in expectation. "So where is it?"

"Oh, nowhere special." Joka lifted his arm and there a dangerous ratcheting sound as he pointed it at the waitress. "Just the cash register."

Andy cursed under his breath as the waitress' face went white. His first impulse was to rise from the table, and get Joka's attention. But that had just as much chance of Joka shooting up the place as he did at taking the waitress hostage. _Just be smart, lady and give him the money._

"C'mon." Joka gestured with his left arm at the cash register. "Pop it open and empty it. But I'm a nice guy. You can keep enough to pay for my meal."

The waitress nodded and stepped stiffly over to the register, a 'ding!' shattering the eerie calm that'd fallen over the diner as she rang up Joka's meal. Once it was open, she started pulling out money and piling it on the counter.

"Hey, show some damn pride in your work, lady!" Joka snapped. "Stack it up neat! You think I just got a bank bag I can sweep that into?"

She nodded fearfully and complied, shuffling the bills together and Joka nodded. "See? That's good service right there. You give good service, you get a good tip. Like staying alive. Like I said, I'm a nice guy-"

He whirled, gunfire filling the diner as he spewed a stream of bullets over the heads of the truckers who had been sneaking up on him. Glass shattered, the waitress screaming as the truckers dove to the floor. "-And it's not nice to sneak up on a fella like that, boys!"

Andy was already sliding out of his seat and had crossed the distance between him by the time Joka noticed he was coming. The gun arm was swinging his way, but Andy seized the barrel and yanked upwards. The bullets rattled into the ceiling as he sent Joka sprawling with a hard left hook.

"Christ, Mondays suck!" Joka peeled his face off the floor, growling as Andy's foot slammed down on his gun arm before he could raise it, and the other foot landed on his chest. "Oh, hey, look who it is! Andy Mark-fucking-kova, Hero of Arcadia and wannabe Dragon Master! Been a while since Wisconsin! How's the scar?"

Andy felt the scar on his face itch at the taunt, but didn't take his gaze off of Joka. "Give it up, Joka. You can't beat me and I'm getting really tired of chasing you across the Great Plains."

"Yeah, well, I'm tired of eating this junk, but we can't always have what we want!" Joka sneered, a clanging noise coming from his other arm. "You wanted to keep your legs, right?"

Andy threw himself back as a whirling buzzsaw hissed right where he had been standing. He ducked as Joka volleyed off a burst blind and scrambled to his feet, smashing straight through the door like it was tinfoil.

The glass hadn't even settled as Andy bolted after him, throwing himself aside again as bullets stiched a trail in the dirt after him. Rolling behind a parked car, he winced as he heard the shots hammer the metal.

"C'mon, bounty hunter! What kind of job are you doin'? You ain't gonna collect my bounty if you just sit there and let me fill you full of holes!" Joka laughed, gun arm trailing rounds as Andy dashed between cars and D-Wheels. He shifted arm, bullets piercing the tires of the one Andy had just slid behind. With a dying hiss, the tires deflated and the bike toppled over to expose a wide-eyed Andy. "Gotcha."

Joka cocked his gun arm as he advanced on his target, levelling it at the bounty hunter's face. "Any last words before I paint the desert with your brains, kid?"

"Just four."

"Better speak'em now, then. If I'm in a good mood, I'll put'em on your tombstone after I piss all over it."

"You're out of bullets."

Joka frowned, then squeezed the mental trigger for his gun arm. Only a dry, empty clattering came out of the end. "Shit!"

Andy's fist crashed into his face and Joka reeled, stumbling more as a few more blows landed square. "Shit!"

With a mechanical snarl, he lashed out with his buzzsaw arm. The hissing blade slammed into Andy's forearm and ground against it without penetrating it, sparks flying. Then it snapped off its mount, ricocheting into Joka's face with an angry metallic squeal of metal on metal. "Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!"

"Is that all you can say?" Andy's next few blows tore at Joka's coat and bandages, revealing a heavy metal chassis that looked like a cross between The Terminator and diesel punk with oil and grease spilling from the cracks. He grinned at the jagged gash across the demonic metal mask that covered Joka's face. "Or have you finally figured out what you are?"

"Go to hell, kid!" Joka's gun arm morphed back into a hand, knives unfolding from the fingers. Quick slashes cut open Andy's jacket and shirt across the chest and left thin red lines.

"Hey, my girlfriend got me this shirt!" Andy snapped and parried the next bow with his forearm, other fist driving into Joka's face and crumpling the mask even more.

"Stop hitting my face, dammit! That's my good side!" Joka flung out his other hand, snapping more knives from the fingers. He came at Andy inhumanely fast, pinwheeling arms that left the knives hissing through the air like serpents.

"Please, that's not a face even your mother could love!" Andy twisted around the blows or deflected them with his forearms.

"Don't you talk about my mother! Insulting her is my job!" Joka roared and slammed his arms down in a move that would have peeled Andy's face apart like a loaf of bread. But the knives crashed into Andy's crossed forearms, snapping like twigs. He stumbled, leaving him open as Andy grabbed the back of his head and smashed a knee into his face before a roundhouse kick sent the cyborg crashing into another D-Wheel.

Joka grumbled, the motor-like noise spewing oil from his mouth and he wiped it off with a dirty sleeve. "How in the hell do you keep breaking my stuff? I should be cutting you to bloody ribbons, fleshie!"

"Yeah, because I'm stupid enough to go up against a cyborg unarmed." Andy shucked the remains of his jacket, revealing dragon-themed gauntlets covering his forearms. "Those dwarves were so thankful I stopped you from killing their heir, they gave me these Bracers of Dragon's Strength."

"Cute. Now you get to play superhero, huh?" Joka swayed to his feet, raising his fists in a boxing stance. "C'mon, hero, put'em up!"

Andy's blow darted through his guard and snapped his head back, only for a blow to Joka's torso to buckle the chassis inwards and double the assassin over. There was a noise like a car motor trying to turn over, Joka's body heaved and Andy had to step back as oil, washers and nuts spewed from underneath Joka's mask. "Hey, you DO have guts!"

"You know what else I fucking got?" Joka snapped up straight, eyes glowing red behind his mask as vents opened on his palm and he thrust them towards Andy. "MAXIMUM FIREPOWA!"

Flames roared from the vents in broad streams, swallowing up Andy in an instant. Joka laughed as he advanced steadily, pouring so much effort into the flames that they were almost white-hot. "Mmm, roast idiot! I ain't never had one of you before, but I ain't picky! You think ya taste like chicken?"

He stopped as the flames suddenly began to coil, whirling in around Andy and parting to reveal him unharmed. The flamethrowers wheezed empty as the last of the flames were sucked into the glowing eye-jewels of the Bracers. Andy grinned at the horrified 'eep!' from Joka and slammed his now glowing fists together. "I dunno, Joka. You tell me."

He drove his fists into Joka in a one-two combination that left the metal of his body glowing red and lifted him off his feet. Andy grinned and slammed both into Joka's gut, the Bracers igniting with their stolen flames before there was a noise like a cannon. Bikes toppled over and the windshield of a car caved in as Joka was blasted through them, leaving him groaning in pain.

The assassin yanked his head out of the windshield, wiping glass off his face and patting out a few smoldering embers on his torso. The coat and bandages were gone completely, revealing every single batter, dent, gash and gouging score mark on his metal body. "Ah, hell, there's no way I'm gonna be able to buff that out…!"

He yelped as Andy seized him by the neck and hoisted him from the car. "Hey, easy on my neck! I still gotta breathe! And eat!"

"Shut up." Andy spun him around and slammed him on the hood of the car, yanking his arms behind his back. "You're done, Joka. No more tricks."

If Joka could have grinned beneath his mask, he would have as he felt Andy slap a cuff on one of his arms. "Well...how about just one more?"

The cuffed arm launched from Joka's elbow like a rocket, picking him up and smashing the bounty hunter through the diner's window in a chorus of broken glass, twisted metal and horrified screams.

Joka didn't take time to admire his handiwork, dragging himself towards one of the few standing D-Wheels as a skeleton key popped out of his fingers. "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon…!"

He stared at the back, searching for the ignition and rattled out an angry sigh as he realised that there wasn't one. "Goddamn, mothertrucking digital age! Whatever happened to good old analogue?"

There was the sound of a rocket spluttering out and then metal being forced out of shape - Andy probably breaking the offending arm - and he spat oil before shoving his remaining arm through the bike's dash. He grunted in pain as wires extended from his wrist, digging into the bike's electronics and sparks danced up his limb. "Frig, that hurts so good. Almost like that girl I had back in Jersey!"

The bike hummed to life and he yanked his arm free, swinging himself onto the seat and flooring it as Andy came charging out the diner door. "Later, kid! Bite me!"

Andy watched him leave, clenched fist slamming into the doorframe as Joka's hotwire job pushed the bike well past any safety limits it had. In a matter of seconds, the cyborg was barely a dot down the road.

As the roar of the motor trailed off, the notes of the _Superman_ theme picked up the slack and Andy walked over to the remains of his jacket. Fishing his phone from the pocket, he answered it. "Hey, sweetheart. I'm at the diner, but Joka got away. I was right though - he's heading to Vegas. And I'll wager my entire deck he's heading right for that auction. It's just the kind of place his type will hang out. Have you found us a way in yet?"

Shrugging the tatty jacket back on, he paused, half turned towards his own bike. "Wait, you haven't? Fran, the auction is in three days! We don't have time to waste here! You need to find us a way in before everything goes up for viewing - I'm not biting your head off!"

Yanking his D-Wheel free of the pile of vehicles he rubbed his forehead. It was too hot out here, and he could feel the last of his scrambled eggs lining his throat like cloying insulation. "Alright, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Calm down. I know you're not stupid. I know you know all this. I just thought you'd be further along by now...but then I also thought I'd be able to take down Joka here, so shows what I know, hey?"

He chuckled to himself before continuing. "Anyway, make sure you've scoped the place by sundown. I know Vegas is pretty cool, but we have a job to do here."

Footsteps were starting to appear on broken glass behind him - he guessed that the patrons had finally worked up the courage to leave the diner. "Look I'd better go clean up the mess I made. Stay safe, and call me as soon as you're done? I'll find us a decent hotel tonight - we've earned it. I love you..."

He hung up and rubbed a few scratches off his D-Wheel before looking up at the approaching crowd. "Ah, you must be the manager. Well don't worry - I can explain this…"

TTTTTTT

"So you're just busy trying to unlock your dragons?" Solex studied the Clear Wing Synchro Dragon and Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon on the table. "You only had the Xyz one when I knew you...and you say Serenity got one, too?"

"Yes. During a duel with a vampire, she called out one of the dragons I had and unlocked it." Lyrius said. "Dracula has one of her own and according to her, there are more dragons out there beyond the sealed ones I have."

"Well, a tournament would have been a good place to gather enough duel energy to unlock them and see what they do." Solex pushed the two cards back to Lyrius and took a drink of his beer. "Shame it fell through for you."

"More of a shame for Mister Hurst." Lyrius said dryly. "You said he had some shady dealings?"

"Yeah, unfortunately." Solex leaned back into his seat. "Hurst was hurting for money. Tournaments aren't cheap, but he didn't want to lose face and kept giving the charities bigger and bigger slices of the pie. To the point all he was left with was the crumbs."

"So why not take out a bank loan? Instead of borrowing from people who collect on interest with guns."

"He already had, and had a huge amount of debt from a lot of different banks. Then he paid them all off over the last six months. It's suspicious by itself, but no one could turn up anything incriminating, so people just let it be."

"Yet someone went to the effort to put a bounty on the man and hire you to collect it."

"Not so simple. Turns out Hurst borrowed big from a crime boss here in Vegas - the guy gave him a better deal than the banks and Hurts probably figured he could win it back on the tables or something."

Lyrius frowned. "So then the crime boss decided that he wanted his money back and when Hurst couldn't pay, killed him? That makes no sense. You can't collect money from a dead person."

"Right. And my sources tell me our loan shark didn't want money back. He wanted a stake in Hurst's tournaments. Seed in his own players, Eliminators, things like that. Ways to 'legally' relieve duelists of their cards and stuff. It was a long-term repayment plan."

Serenity's warning about the corruption that plagued Duel Monsters was fresh in Lyrius' mind and only now did he get how remarkably easy it was. "So what changed?"

"Hurst must not have liked being made into a patsy, because he wound up stealing something from that crime boss to resell to cover his debts and was hosting this tournament to disguise the sale. But not only did that crime boss find out about the theft, so did all of his rivals. And they all wanted that item."

"What was it that Hurst stole?"

"Some kind of rare, magical sword." Solex chuckled at Lyrius' surprised expression. "Hurst was an Aware and the crime boss he's borrowed from is a Shadowkind. And whatever that sword is, it's rare and powerful enough that a select group of criminals want it."

"So that's where you come in." Lyrius concluded. "One of them hired you to go and retrieve Hurst and the sword."

"Hey, c'mon, give me more credit than that. You know I don't work for the wrong side of the line unless it's a good reason. And someone's fancy letter-opener isn't it." Solex said defensively, jabbing a finger at Lyrius. "I'm working for a strictly above-board client on this one."

"That has me curious. What kind of legitimate organization would have interest in stolen goods that they wouldn't go to the Shadowchasers for?"

"Sorry, old man. I'm being paid a great deal to keep my client a secret and just play fetch on this one."

"Fair enough. So beyond Hurst's death, what is styming you on this case?"

Solex swigged some of his beer with a sigh. "Hurst was the only lead to _this_ case...but his death matches the profile for a string of serial killings that have been plaguing the city."

One of Lyrius' eyebrows rose. "Just how do you know that?"

"'Cause I broke into his place early this morning and found him already dead. And not in the 'two gunshots to the chest' criminal way. The man's chest had a sigil carved into it, so did his palms, probably his feet, though I didn't check and there was _cyphin_ in runes on his face. I-"

" _Cyphin?_ " Lyrius' abrupt question brought Solex up short. "Are you sure?"

"Definitely. I've seen you use it enough times to know it on sight."

" _Cyphin_ is not an easy thing to make, even with the simplicity of its ingredients. And most schools of necromancy don't bother with it because they are focused on working with corpses, not living beings."

"Right." Solex nodded. "That's why I'm glad I ran into you. You know more about this stuff than I do and Hurst's office was ransacked. So the killer either took the sword or might know where it is. But if I can't track the killer, I can't find the sword. Or stop him from killing again."

"Do you have pictures?"

"Yep. Snapped a bunch with my cell phone, then skedaddled." Solex reached into his pocket and pulled out a phone. He unlocked it, then dug around until found the pictures he wanted. "Here."

Lyrius took the phone from him, pausing when realized Solex's fingers were ice-cold. "Solex. Your hand."

"Huh? Oh, yeah these." Solex held up the hand in question, flexing the five metal fingers there in a little wave. "Had a bad run in with bulette about a year back. Thing took my prisoner, my sword and bits of me. Thank goodness for modern medicine, right?"

"Indeed."

Solex grinned. "Oh, would you look at that. You _do_ have a concerned face! I thought you just changed masks between 'stoic' and 'less stoic'!"

"If you want my help, perhaps you should work on buttering me up than rubbing salt into my wounds." Lyrius shot back, but his attention was already on the pictures. He paged through them with care. Solex had been right - Hurst's shirt had been opened, leaving a sigil carved into his chest. Reddish-black _cyphin_ was hastily slopped onto his face in an approximation of a seal and the palms had nearly been flayed open like a flower as the killer tore into them to carve smaller seals. A killing done in hasty anger and need.

Though that wasn't the most disturbing part about it. "His eyes have been removed."

"Yeah. that's how I knew it was this serial killer. A friend of mine on the taskforce confirmed it for me. The mundane police think it's some kind of Satanist whack job and the Shadowchasers can't find any traces of magic or Shadowkind involvement, so they're just consulting now and again on it." Solex watched Lyrius' eyes darken deeper than normal. "What do you know about it?"

"The sigils are similar to the ones the Shadow Queen would use on her victims, but she'd magically brand them into place. More potent that way. These are sloppy, done in a hurry and by someone untrained. And it's a very old method of soul-stealing."

Solex nearly spat out his beer in surprise. "Wait, the killer is stealing their souls?"

"You have heard the phrase 'the eyes are the window to the soul', yes? This kind of necromancy takes that literally. The sigils on the chest, palms and the soles of the feet are for containment, to trap the soul in the body after the body dies instead of letting it go to the great beyond. The _cyphin_ is the containment ritual - you seal the souls in the eyes."

"And then you walk off with them and a soul." Solex shuddered, his fist clenching. "What kind of nutcase does that?!"

"The kind who is either old-fashioned or thinks themselves better than they are." Lyrius said, watching as Solex looked up at him in surprise. "These rituals are the very basic ones that the first necromancers used. There are far easier and less time-consuming methods by which to capture a soul from a person. Methods that don't leave any trail or evidence."

"So what? This killer is doing it for shits and giggles?" Solex stared down at his phone in anger.

"There is one advantage doing it this way has over the modern methods." Lyrius conceded. "This kind of necromantic magic ties into blood magic very well. The souls are trapped in the eyes, which are kept perpetually alive because of that. I've seen people use the eyes to do everything from animate golems to make them into oracles to view the past or future or even as replacement eyes so they could see the spirits, into other planes of existence and so on."

Solex's jaw worked a little in surprise. "Damn. Didn't realize that eyes were so powerful."

"The rituals for making the eyes capable of doing those things are time-consuming, as well. They can take days or weeks, depending on what you want the eyes to do because you have let them 'cook' in a manner of speaking. And most are not so patient in their lusts for power. We caught many a criminal whose own impatience was their own undoing."

"You said it. If that guy with the zombie Oreos had waited until people had eaten them instead of raising them while in the packaging, he might have actually succeeded in giving someone indigestion." Solex grinned at the memory, but sobered as he pocketed his phone. "This guy has killed twelve people, Lyrius and the first one was three months ago. That's more than enough time to work voodoo on those eyes, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"Damn, I'd give anything for a lead on this guy!" Solex snapped, thumping his fist on the table. "Earning my paycheck is one thing, but guys like this, I'll stop for free!"

"I have an idea." Lyrius waited until Solex was looking at him. " _Cyphin_ is usually made out of the ash and blood of your victim or yourself - life and death mingling. But the killer hasn't had time to collect either of these things. So the _cyphin_ they're using is probably an herbal mixture of 'killer' plants, rooster blood and standard ash. It isn't as potent as the traditional method and loses its power shortly after you make it."

"Okay, old man, as much I as I miss our funny-cop, straight-cop banter, I'm starting to remember why it bugged me too." Solex gave him a wry frown. "Just give me the cliff notes."

"The key ingredient in this lesser _cyphin_ is rotten drakeweed."

Solex whistled. "That's a restricted substance. You have to have a license to handle that stuff and given how rare it is on Earth, it's expensive as all get out."

"Yes. If you can find out whose is licensed to handle it, we can get list of people they've sold it to. Or if it was stolen. We should make haste before the killer strikes again." Lyrius was half-out of his seat when Solex clamped down on his arm.

"Hey, hey, what's the 'we' stuff, huh?" The elf grinned. "You're retired from the game. And from the sounds of it, you're still working on getting your head on straight. I'd love to work with you again, but you've got other priorities."

Lyrius frowned at the logic, agreeing with it and wishing he wasn't. "What about you? This case is rapidly growing out of your scope."

"Don't worry about me - I got two new partners to help me out. They're young, but good help." Solex finished off his beer, placing the money for their drinks under the mug as he stood. "Speaking of which, I need to meet up with one of them soon."

"I see." Lyrius thought for a moment, then grabbed their receipt and scribbled a number down on it before thrusting it at Solex. "Here. My new phone number. If you run into trouble, please call me."

"Awww, you do care." Solex pocketed the receipt with a thankful smile and then pulled out a business card. "Take this in exchange."

Lyrius glanced at it the sturdy white card and the neat black lettering on it. "An address?"

"I know I'm not supposed to have it, but the place is the entrance to the Dueling Underground here in Vegas. The password is 'Blood Gold'. " Solex said. "Since your tournament fell through, that might be the best place to work on unlocking your dragons."

"Thank you, my friend."

"No problem. See ya round!" Solex waved casually as he exited the bar and left Lyrius staring at the card.

TTTTTT

" _Zombie Oreos?"_ Serenity's disbelief was visible even through the miniature screen of his phone, her eyebrows shooting up into her hairline. _"That one you have to be making up."_

"I agree with the doctor."

Dracula wasn't visible on her end of the group Skypecall, a few articles of clothing flying along the edges of the screen suggesting she was rummaging around in her wardrobe. " _The idea of zombie cookies is as laughable as it would be dangerous."_

"I will share the story you with you both some other time." Lyrius said, watching as Serenity used a little comb on her eyebrows. "It appears you both are planning to go somewhere."

 _"Well, Skype calls double well as mirrors for doing make-up."_ Serenity said. _"And since we don't have any tournament to worry about, I intend to go down to the casinos, win us a small fortune and get very drunk."_

"At your age?"

 _"I look like I'm twenty again, so I want to FEEL that I am. And that means doing all the stuff I haven't done in decades. You're welcome to come with me."_

"Thank you, but no. I think I will stay in tonight."

" _Do not go off and try to play with Solex._ " Dracula warned. " _You've done more than enough in giving him a solid lead to work on. Now is the time to relax."_

" _I agree with Dracula, Lyrius. Take some time for yourself."_

"You are working, Dracula." Lyrius protested as the vampire swanned back into view in a flattering three-piece suit.

" _I am going to check on the nightclub that I own here. And the enjoy human vampire subculture and get drunk myself. Well-"_ She grinned, revealing fangs. _"Drunk how vampires do it."_

" _Wait - vampires can get drunk?"_ Serenity paused in doing her eyeshadow to look confused.

" _I'll explain later."_ Dracula peered out the window near the desk. " _My limo just pulled up outside."_

"You have a limo!?"

Serenity sighed as the vampire's portion of the call winked out. _"One of these days, I am going to sit down with her and we are going to have a long, detailed discussion about vampire physiology."_

"I'm sure she'll be able to give you an _intimate_ introduction to it." Lyrius laughed as Serenity stuck her tongue out at him. "So if you are going out to gamble, who is going to watch your cat?"

On the tiny screen, Serenity pulled a face. " _See for yourself."_

As the image swung around to face the floor, Lyrius squinted at it, trying to decipher just what he was seeing. Therapy was loafing in the middle of the floor, amber eyes blinking slowly and serenely at Resonae. The pony sat across from her in a similar pose, holding up photos in her teeth.

( _This creature is called 'Castiel'. He is a blood drinker. If he comes near you, claw his eyes out_ ) She explained patiently, rewarded only by another slow blink from the cat. Lyrius felt incredulity start to rise.

"...Resonae, when exactly did you have time in our battles to take photographs?"

( _Ah perfect timing!_ ) Resonae flicked one ear towards the phone. ( _That is Master. He will feed you if I and the metal human are absent. If he is still awake late in the night, it is your job to sit on his lap until his rests_ )

"That cat is not my baby-sitter, Resonae! And why can Dracula not take a turn feeding her?"

( _I'm getting to that!_ ) Resonae interrupted, pushing another photo towards Therapy with her nose. ( _This is the blood drinker, Dracula. She is an outsider. We do not want her in this herd. If your litterbox is unchanged, feel free to relieve yourself in her suitcase)_

" _You are never going to forgive her for knocking you unconscious so easily, are you, pony?"_ Serenity asked over her shoulder.

 _(Forgive, yes. Stop wreaking vengeance - never!)_

" _...you do that. I'm going out."_ Serenity stepped back away from her phone, propping it up. " _Lyrius? How do I look?"_

Lyrius had been married once already and knew that the correct answer was always " _beautiful"_. Still, he took a moment to take in the image on the phone regardless. Serenity might have looked like she was twenty again, but she had an extra forty years of wisdom and sophistication to work with, and wore a flattering black top that glittered around the neck and arms, and a matching pair of black dress pants. Her one concession to impracticality was her black and silver print heels with a large silver bow on the front. They added about four inches to her overall height and pushed her posture out of the exhausted slouch that Lyrius had always seen her in. For the first time in a long time, she looked…

"Glamorous." Lyrius declared, blushing as he realised what he had said.

Serenity blushed as well, not realizing as Instinct slid into existence behind her and started making kissy faces at him over her shoulder. _"Thank you. And if my Wheeler luck holds, I should be coming back up tonight glamorous AND wealthy."_

"You intend to win a lot gambling?"

" _Lyrius, I learned how to gamble before I knew Duel Monsters. I don't win, I succeed at gambling."_ She caught sight of Instinct in the camera and fumed, the familiar vanishing as she reddened again. " _And I'm going to get going before I embarrass myself again!"_

"Have fun. Please be safe."

" _Always."_ Then she signed off and Lyrius was left alone in his room.

He debated changing his mind and going to join Serenity gambling, but it felt like an intrusion. He was skilled at intimidation, reading people and bluffing, but those skills were all practical for him and lacked the subtle finesse that came with being a gambler that people adored instead of feared. And there was too much noise and too many people for him to really enjoy himself, anyway. _Let Serenity have her fun. I will go next time of she wishes me to. It could be a date, even._

The thought was cheering and he pushed his phone aside, grabbing his sketchpad out of one of his cases and flipped it open to a half-completed sketch of a woman in a chair. He had practiced this one image thousands of times in his training, but he'd do it a thousand times more in real life to ensure he captured it just right. One did not simply _draw_ the Shadow Queen as they brought her to life.

Pulling out a set of pre-sharpened pencils, Lyrius began to finish the sketch that would become the painting that was his good-bye to her.

TTTTTTT

 _A/N:_ _Yay, the chapter is done! Yay, we get to use stuff that's been written for nearly a year in the next chapter! (If only because I have a horrible work ethic and a bad case of perfectionism!)_

 _E/N:_ _...and your co-writer is what? A paragon of timekeeping excellence? Silly husband._

 _Next Chapter: More of the cast, old and new, makes their way to Sin City and once again, it seem our heroes can't find a time to relax as they get tangled up in another mess. But unintended consequences can spring from the best of intentions…_

 _See it all in Vegas: My Friend Is Paying!_


	19. Vegas: My Friend Is Paying

Kintsugi  
By 7th Librarian

 _A/N_ _: Much love and thanks to my darling wife, Mei1105, for her assistance with chapter and her patience with how long it took to get here. If my dear readers enjoy the work here, go check out her stories 'Sweet Sixteen' and 'Something Borrowed' set in the same universe in Kintsugi. You won't be disappointed!_

Chapter 19: Vegas: My Friend Is Paying

The room was huge, but by no means empty.

Every available space was filled with machines, tables and bodies, all locked in the complicated ritual that was gambling. Lights flashed from every corner, bouncing off polished mahogany, sequined clothing and the glass that hung from the ceiling lights. Successful cheers, the clink of drinks being passed around, and the ever present clatter of coins rattling out of slot machines pressed into Serenity's ears as though trying to bore its way into her brain.

And she loved it.

Here there was no complicated pasts. No vampires. No magic. No souls. Just men, and money and lady luck as the presiding goddess.

For the first time in a long time, she felt at home.

She did not have much money to work with - the last of their earnings from Duellist Kingdom - and she had not gambled properly in a long time. While the Wheeler luck was certainly strong in her, she was not willing to risk leaving such a small amount of cash completely up to chance. Better to start with something where she could rely on skill. Thus her eyes skimmed past the roulette and craps, and focused instead on the card tables.

Mai had been her introduction to this world. Her friend had spent most of her youth working on cruise ships, taking rich old men for every penny they had, and she had been happy to educate her in every card game she knew. Baccarat, blackjack, poker...Serenity had eagerly lapped it all up. Within seconds, she'd located the table she wanted and smiled - it had always been her favourite. Mai was the queen of poker, but Serenity had always been better at blackjack.

The two nearest tables were full, but there was space at the next one, and so Serenity quietly sidled up to it. The dealer, a young smartly-dressed Vietnamese lady, politely nodded to her as she sat down, and she quickly took scope of the other players and their fortunes so far. A mixed bag of ages, fashions and fortunes - predictably, the dealer was doing best. They all gave the smartly-dressed, half-metal woman a professional once-over and got a lot of predatory looks and shark-like smiles when it dawned on them that even if she was well-dressed, this new player looked to be barely twenty-one and was easy money.

Serenity destroyed that notion within five rounds, having won the first one by a lucky hit, nailed twenty-one on her second and bluffed them twice into folding before revealing she'd had the lowest number on the other two. By the fifth round, it was clear to the rest of the players that Serenity was simply playing to mess with them and they bet low, hedging their losses. But it was still gratifying to see the grit teeth and scowls they passed her along with their chips. In less than half an hour she had more than doubled her money. Mai would be proud.

"This isn't your first time, is it?" the dealer smiled, as three of the other players slunk off to count their losses and nurse their pride, leaving only Serenity and a businessman behind. Two more girls quickly filled in the gaps, giggling over martini glasses.

Serenity gave the dealer her most mysterious look. "Just lucky." She said, as another woman sat down by her right elbow, filling up the table once more.

The next two rounds went much the same as the first. The two-martini girls across from her were amateurs, and quickly started hemorrhaging chips. The woman on Serenity's right played far better but was distracted three times by her phone buzzing to life. The businessman knew that Serenity was good, but instead of making him cautious, it made him reckless. Serenity took a small amount of pleasure in watching his jaw become slowly more and more clenched, and when she finally wiped him out with a cheerful smile, she had to fight very hard to stop Instinct from coming out to do a little victory dance.

"Lucky my ass!" the dealer muttered with a chuckle, as the man finally stomped off towards the bar with the angry slouch of a pre-teen being sent to his room. The young woman on Serenity's right snorted in agreement.

"There is something nice about watching people do the walk of shame," Serenity admitted, neatly stacking her chips into piles of ten in front of her.

As the dealer began to shuffle, a buzz rattled across the table, and Serenity's eyes flicked to the phone by her right elbow, and then to the young woman, who was ignoring it with an almost fixed look on her face.

"Umm...aren't you like, going to answer that?" one of the martini girls asked, blinking slowly at the woman, clearly wondering if she understood how phones worked. The woman gave her a withering look.

"No."

It was difficult to tell if either of the girls sensed the tone, and Serenity wondered how drunk they were, particularly as the other one leaned across the empty space and peered at the phone.

"Oh is that your boyfriend?" she asked with a smug knowingness. The other woman blushed and snatched the phone away.

"None of your business!" she seethed.

"Did you, like, have a fight?" the first girl asked innocently. "If you had a fight you should answer it. He probably wants to make up with you."

By the set of the woman's jaw, Serenity guessed that the martini girl was spot on with her assessment. She thought that the woman might get up and leave, but instead, she placed her next bet firmly onto the table.

Serenity tried to put it out of her mind and get back into the game, but it was difficult to ignore the woman's tense posture, and the dealer easily won the next round. The phone buzzed again and again and was diligently ignored both times.

"Why don't you turn it off?" One of the martini girls eventually asked again. "If you don't want to make up with him."

"If I turn it off," the woman scowled. "He's going to assume I've been kidnapped and start tearing apart the city looking for me."

Both martini girls sighed dreamily. "Lucky," one of them moaned in envy.

It was the wrong thing to say. The woman shoved her chair violently back, nearly winding a passing cocktail waitress in the process, and stormed off across the floor.

The girls blinked in confusion at the space she had just vacated. "...what's her problem?" one of them asked, bewildered. Serenity rolled her eyes.

"She left her chips behind," the dealer realised, scanning the crowd. Seeing the woman heading towards the bar, Serenity swept her own winnings into her purse.

"I'll take them to her," she said, getting to her feet and stacking the chips. There was about three hundred dollars worth.

"Are you sure?" the dealer asked. She clearly was not nuts about trusting a stranger with a customer's money, but she could not abandon her post and there were no cocktail waitresses nearby to flag down. Serenity nodded.

"It's fine. I should probably move on anyway - give someone else a chance to win."

With a parting grin, she weaved between the tables and towards the bar. She could not help but suspect that in spite of herself, the dealer was letting out a long sigh of relief at her departure.

The bar was busy, but the woman was easy enough to identify, seating herself on a stool and ordering something with a tense set to her shoulders. Sidling up beside her, Serenity set the stack of chips down by her elbow.

"You forgot something," she greeted, watching the woman jump and round on her. She put her best 'doctor' smile on her face, and nudged the chips over, watching as the woman's face crumpled in realisation and relief.

"Oh thanks," she swept the chips up, glancing suspiciously at Serenity. "...did you really follow me just to give these back?"

Serenity was confused as to what other reason she could have had, and she shrugged. "Yes. Why?"

The woman seemed thrown by such honesty. "I guess most people would have walked off with them."

Serenity remembered the dealer clearly thinking the same thing - she supposed that was the trade off you made for a younger body. She no longer looked harmless and trustworthy. "You saw me at the tables - do I look like I need to resort to stealing from other players?"

Pink crawled up the other woman's cheeks. "Fair enough. I'm sorry." Her eyes flicked to Serenity's face, clearly trying to search for some kind of answer. "...can I buy you a drink?"

Serenity's answer never made it out, as the conversation was interrupted by another sharp buzz from the infernal phone. The woman clenched her teeth. "...or you could watch me throw this thing into the nearest fountain?"

Not for the first time that evening, Serenity wondered what Mai would do, and the answer came to her in a flash of brilliant insight.

"I've got an idea - can I have that?" she asked, holding out a hand. The woman's fist clenched around it warily.

"Why?" she asked. Serenity sighed.

"If I didn't walk off with your money, I'm not going to walk off with your phone," she pointed out. The woman did not look much consoled by this, but she handed the device over anyway, as the bartender appeared with her long island iced tea. Clearing her throat, Serenity swiped the green button.

"There you are!" a voice exclaimed down the other end. Young and male. The martini girls had called it after all. "I've been ringing for the last-"

Doing her best to control the giggles that were already building, Serenity interrupted with a clear firm voice. "Thank you for calling AT&T customer support. Your call is very important to us. Please select from the following options."

By her side, the young woman's face collapsed first into astonishment and then into unbridled glee as Serenity continued.

"If you are a new customer, please press one. If you are a current customer, please press two. For all other enquiries, please-"

She never got any further as the caller hung up with such haste that Serenity knew he was mortified. Smirking, she handed the phone back.

"There. That should keep him confused for an hour." She said, pleased as the woman removed the fist that she had stuffed into her mouth and released the laughter that she had been holding in.

"Two hours at least when he remembers I'm not with AT&T!" she shook with mirth. "Okay, now I definitely need to buy you a drink. What are you having?"

"Pina colada," Serenity said, taking the seat next to her. "I'm Serenity."

She held out a hand, and was pleased when the woman took it in a strong grip.

"Fran." She got the bartenders attending and gave him the order. "So I have to ask - how did you know to do that?"

Warmth filled Serenity as she remembered the happier times. "A friend of mine knew all the tricks to getting men off your back. We travelled together for a while years ago and she taught me every last one of them."

"Sounds like fun," Fran said, stirring the straws of her cocktail around her glass. "How long did you travel for?"

"About three years," Serenity smiled. "We worked as professional eliminators for a while, so we travelled all over the place."

She smiled as the bartender placed her cocktail before her.

"That sounds amazing," Fran's voice was wistful. "My boyfriend and I did the circuits for a year or so. Would we have seen you?"

Serenity shrugged. "Probably not. I've been off the scene for a while." That was going to prove awkward, she realised, if anyone recognised her and questioned how she could still look so young. She was going to have to tread carefully talking about her duelling career.

"That's a shame," Fran said, sipping at her tea. "Do you still see your friend?"

Something small and cold wriggled in Serenity's stomach. "No...I haven't actually talked to her for a few years. That's sort of why I'm here. I got a call randomly from her two weeks ago, and asked her to meet me."

On instinct, she glanced over one shoulder, and could not help the small knot of disappointment she felt when she saw no familiar blonde head. She knew it was stupid - for Mai to have been there at the very moment she mentioned her would have been far too cliche. But the hope had been simmering away inside her since Dracula's yacht, and now that they were here, it was desperate to be fulfilled. _Where are you Mai? Are you even coming?_

"Good place for a reunion," Fran complimented. "Cocktails, parties. I hear there's a tournament in town too. Should be fun for a pair of eliminators."

Serenity shook her head. "The tournament's been cancelled. The organiser turned up dead earlier today."

"You're kidding me?" Fran was not horrified by this turn of events, which seemed strange to Serenity. She just sounded astonished at the fact. "Well that's one way to completely ruin an event. Do they have any idea what happened to him?"

She sounded more than just idly making conversation. There was an intrigue that Serenity recognised as professional curiosity, and she decided to answer carefully.

"Stabbing. Gambling debts, the police said. Not really surprising in this city I guess."

"I guess. Still...bad way to go," Fran shook her head and took a long sip of her drink. Serenity decided it was her turn to pry.

"So what brings you to Vegas then?"

Fran's straw gurgled as she ran out of iced tea, and she pulled a face. "Work." She said, sourly. Serenity looked pointedly around at their surroundings.

"In a casino?" she asked dubiously.

"No." the slump of Fran's shoulders was heavy, resigned, and far too large a load for someone as young as she was. "My boyfriend and I are freelance investigators. I'm supposed to be...casing a place of interest."

The pieces fell together in Serenity's head. "And instead, you're taking some time to yourself? That's why you don't want to answer the phone, so your boyfriend doesn't know you're nowhere near your place of interest?"

Fran sighed. "The key word is ' _interest_ '," she explained. "And I…" she swirled her straw around her glass. "...have you ever realised suddenly one day that you just don't care anymore?"

Serenity thought of all her years on Satellite. In spite of the difficulty, in spite of the hardship, and in spite of being surrounded by death and misery day in day out, she had never stopped caring. She was a doctor - she did not have that luxury, and it just was not in her nature. But she had seen all too often people who did give in. Who just stopped feeling because it hurt too much. It was not hard for her to imagine, but it hurt her to see someone so young in that place.

Carefully she set her drink down on the bar, and focused her full attention on Fran. "If you don't care about something...then that's probably a good sign that it's not for you."

Fran's laugh was dry. "Probably not." She conceded, swirling the ice cubes around in her glass again. "But it's my life...for better or for worse."

"Let's see if I can't help with the 'for better' part." Serenity offered, rising to her feet. "I've got chips, booze and a whole lotta luck. Wanna learn how to clean a flirty sleazeball out of everything but his pocket lint?"

Fran stared, then laughed. "Yes, please!"

OOO

Dracula was beginning to miss the time when all she had to do to intimidate annoying humans was bare her fangs and say her name, which would result in the appropriate response of fear, respect and subservience. In the modern era, the fat doorman was more interested in expressing his skepticism over her 'cosplaying' in the most condescending tone imaginable. _What I wouldn't give to have the freedom to make him eat his own fingers..._

She settled for pushing his mind into forgetting that he'd ever asked for her ID. Having her current body did have perks, but it had opened her eyes to a whole lot of injustices and difficulties too - and not just because she barely looked legal.

Ordering alcohol was another ongoing source of frustration and it took another mental shove (a little gentler this time) to coax the bartender into taking her money and serving her the cocktail she wanted. It was beautiful but it lacked the spice of her earlier libations. She could have stayed at the _Fanged Embrace_ , being served perfect drinks and a spot of blood all night and had, in fact, intended to. However, if she was going to start the night on business affairs, she might as well end it on them, too.

Which is why she had been quietly keeping tabs on Serenity most of the night through the eyes and ears of her minions that were scattered around the Strip. The doctor shouldn't have any trouble, given her new power, but that only applied to Mundanes. Not Shadowkind. Already, Dracula had had to 'nudge' a group of drow scheming to steal Serenity's necklace into forgetting it and her minions had run interference on the shadier, magical elements of Vegas' seedy underbelly. Protecting the human was costing her a small fortune.

But one could not put a price on happiness and after what she had put Serenity through, the human deserved a chance to relax and be herself without any worries from the outside. And it kept Lyrius contented and there was no price too high for _that_ in Dracula's mind.

She maneuvered among the tables and gamblers, ignoring offers and suggestions thrown her way as she scanned the room for the familiar flash of bloody red hair along with the subtle chilling tingle of shadow magic that her target would be sporting.

It wasn't long before she found the latter and she glided towards it, unable to help the pleasurable smile she got at the feeling of that magic flicking its metaphorical tendrils over in her in a predator's caress. One threat acknowledging another and a sensation she had only felt only in Lyrius before. Danger that could be either a passionate, raging tempest or a raging tempest of passion. It was surprising to Dracula that the kind, quiet doctor could project such an aura, but fascinating as well. The doctor had embraced her dark side, yet remained firmly entrenched in her morality and sense of right and wrong. Most people would have be seduced by power by now. She could see why Lyrius was interested in the woman.

And it was because of Lyrius she was keeping a watchful eye on the man's potential new paramour. She had not lied when she had said before that she wished to have Lyrius back in her life as a romance, but Dracula knew that ship had sailed. At least for the time being. A vampire, however, was used to waiting and protecting their investments. Dracula rather liked the new Lyrius and whether it was one year or one hundred years, she would get her taste of him. Until then, it was in her best interests to keep Serenity safe and happy alongside him lest he regress into what he had been before.

 _Nor does it hurt,_ Dracula mused to herself as she angled towards a roulette table that had a crowd around it. _To keep a watchful eye on a woman would make for a fascinating vampire._

Serenity was doing well. Even as Dracula approached, the Mundanes gave another roar of delight, as the redhead jumped up and down in apparent excitement.

"Serenity?"

"Dracula!" the doctor's cheer was loud enough to be heard by the whole table, and nobody missed the sight of the redhead flinging her arms around the vampire's neck. "Where have you _been_? You're missing the fun and excitement!" she exclaimed. "Fran! This is Dracula! Say hi to Dracula!" She pressed her hand next to her mouth in a stage whisper. "She doesn't like me!"

"...only when you drunkenly announce my presence to a room full of Mundanes." The vampire said under her breath, curious as to just how much the doctor had to drink to completely shatter her shy, professional reserve like this. The answer was in the two cocktail glasses the size of serving trays sitting precariously on the edge of the roulette table. One of the straws was being sipped on by Serenity's companion even as a waiter cleared two more similar-sized glasses. _Those are very potent drinks. How can it be she has had at least several of those, yet can still gamble effectively?_

That question went unanswered as Dracula got a look at the pretty blonde who had partnered up with the redhead and the vampire felt surprise shoot through her. The newcomer was none other than Francesca Benedict, Unicorn Maiden and one of the Three Heroes. Yet _another_ figure from Lyrius' past.

"Now why is that?" the young woman asked, her voice just on the tipsy side of loud. "Serenity's lovely. How do you not like her?"

"I stole her boyfriend," Serenity said, with an intense seriousness that was almost comical, completely oblivious to way the vampire's mind was racing. "Only he wasn't her boyfriend at the time, but she still tooootally fancies him!"

"Aww!" Pulling a sympathetic face, Fran leaned over the giant cocktail glasses and patted the vampire squarely in the middle of the head. "Poor Drac-drac! Don't worry. Boys are stupid." She blinked before turning to the rest of the roulette table. "Not you boys! You're lovely!"

Every man around the table cheered drunkenly in delight at this apparent praise, while Dracula continued to put the pieces together. Francesca being here could not just be a coincidence. _Is she here to cause trouble? No...she's far too tipsy for that._ Dracula had kept passing tabs on the three heroes - nothing too invasive, just for her own knowledge - but she had not known that Francesca would be in town.

"You're just in time!" Serenity was saying, finally releasing her and scooping her winnings off the roulette table. "I think I'm done spinning the wheel for tonight. You wanna come get food with us?"

"Ooh I heard about this great buffet!" Fran chimed in, gesturing with her straw. "I think it was called the Magic Monkey."

Dracula frowned. "...isn't that a male strip club?"

"...even better!" Fran declared, as Serenity gave a gasp of delight.

"Oooh we are so going!" she said, swinging her handbag full of chips onto her shoulder. "Ooh we should go grab Lyrius too!"

"Hold up," it was telling that Fran's voice was filled with drunken curiosity. "Your sort-of-boyfriend-but-not-really's name is Lyrius?"

"Yessum!"

Dracula watched the other woman's face and then gently 'nudged' a distraction into Fran's mind in the form of ordering another drink. As she did, Fran's addled brain didn't connect the necessary dots about Lyrius' name and gave up trying. _It is no coincidence that this woman and Lyrius are in this city at the same time. Things are falling into place...Duelist Kingdom and Satellite, as well. Someone is playing a game and moving us as the pieces._

But that was no reason to spoil the night by bringing anything up or derailing the two humans plan to go out. Dracula was here to protect Serenity, after all and by extension, Lyrius. Getting them involved ran directly opposite to that little self-imposed duty. Besides, she didn't know all of the context for Francesca's presence beyond the happenstance of she and Serenity meeting. _Better to let this web reveal itself in its entirety instead of cutting ourselves free._

She caught the passing arm of the waiter and pressed a stack of her own chips into his hand. "The redhead and the blonde at this table? Put their drinks on Lady Dracula's tab for the night."

The waiter nodded and Dracula slid herself out of her seat, satisfied. Serenity would keep wining, she and Fran would keep drinking and the only problems to come from this sudden quagmire would be hangovers. Mentally assigning two of her minions to watch over them, she stalked out into the Strip and smiled.

It was time for Dracula to hunt.

OOO

Drawing, in Lyrius' opinion, was a lot like mediation. They both required complete silence, a great deal of patience and for best results, some privacy. It was easier to focus inwards on one's self if one was bereft of distractions, after all.

Though it was doubtful that any attempts at mediation would ever prove as frustrating to him as these sketches were. One sketchpad was already gone, its pages torn out and fed to the wastepaper basket as offerings to the god of artistic suffering and several pencils had been worn down to nubs or snapped by his angry fingers.

It was looking more and more that he was never going to be able to draw - let alone paint - this portrait of Iris without getting a model for what he wanted to do. The angle of the lighting, the curves of clothing, the flowers she'd be holding, all of them interacted in subtle and distinct ways that an artist's eye could catch, but an artist's imagination would gloss over. So he was definitely going to have to ask Serenity for her help and while Lyrius was certain she'd do it, the whole situation had the potential to be awkward for them both. He was aware of their growing feelings for each other and while he certainly found himself open to the idea of entering a relationship with the doctor, the idea of asking her to figuratively bury Iris by dressing as her so they could start a fresh relationship without baggage felt like one step forwards, two steps back. Or, given their circumstances with Dracula loitering around, _three_ steps back.

He was pulled out of his reverie as he became aware of the presence of footsteps down the corridor. The frisson of tension disappeared immediately however as he registered the distinctive gait of a metal leg. Serenity was coming to find him...though from the sound of it, she was either drunk or attempting to carry a hippopotamus on her back with a merry-go-round stapled to it's ear. She was also not alone. A second set of footsteps accompanied her, and as they reached his room giddy whispers floated in through the crack in the door.

A set of enthusiastic knocks rang through the room.

"Housekeeping!"

That answered that question, Lyrius thought to himself. The good doctor had clearly overindulged. A pair of giggles confirmed it.

"Sexy doctor needs some arm candy!"

A snort of amusement filled the corridor, and Serenity's voice dropped to a whisper.

"Was that good?"

"Yeah, you're doing really good!" The second voice was clearly younger, and equally inebriated. Curious and a little amused, Lyrius got to his feet, made sure that his bathrobe was secure and opened the door.

"Surprise!" Serenity squealed, flinging her arms out like a performer before throwing herself around his neck. She had a straw tucked behind one ear, and a longer one still in her hand.

"...yes, what a surprise," Lyrius drawled, unable to keep the smile away from his lips as he patted her on the back. Giggling, Serenity threw her bag onto the nearest chair and staggered past him. "Are you enjoying yourself?"

"We're having the _best_ time, aren't we Fran?" the doctor declared, perching on the end of the desk and toeing off her shoes. Lyrius attention was diverted however, as her companion all but fell in over the threshold.

Five years had turned teenage awkwardness into hard-lined adult features and added a few more scars, but there was no mistaking Francesca Benedict. It wasn't possible, given how many photos and bios the Shadow Queen had prepared on the Unicorn Maiden's descendant. In fact, he could see how strong the Maiden's bloodline was in her - same set to her jaw, same blonde hair that framed her face in the same way, same piercing blue eyes.

For a moment, Lyrius considered that Francesca was going to be the new threat they were bound to face in Vegas. But he dismissed it a moment later - Fran was giggling in her drunkenness and clumsily trying to kick off her own shoes in imitation of Serenity. He knew the difference between faking drunk and being drunk and Fran was far into the latter category.

And, perhaps as a more crucial point, she had not seemed to recognize him even as she caught sight of him and gave a silly grin. "Aww, Ren, your not-boyfriend is hot!"

Serenity laughed. "Told you!" she fished a roll of chips out of her pocket. "Hey Lyrius - look what I won at the blackjack tables!" She clicked her tongue and winked. "I still got it!"

"From how you are acting, I think it got you instead." Lyrius' dry sarcasm went over their heads. He examined the chips and was surprised to find the entire roll worth well over ten thousand dollars. "You won all of this in a single night?"

"Yes she did!" Fran flung out a hand as if presenting Serenity on stage. "She's _fantastic_! And she's been teaching me her tricks all night - although, she says she can't teach the Wheeler luck. That's just her and her natural awesomeness!"

"D'awww!" Serenity blushed and waved the praise away so hard that she nearly flung her handful of chips into Lyrius's face. "You're a sweetie. Your silly boyfriend doesn't deserve you."

"You're damn right!" the newcomer proclaimed, flopping backwards onto the bed. Giggling, Serenity returned her attention to Lyrius.

"So, if you is done with painting tonight, we is here to kidnap you! Fran says there's a place down the road with an all you can eat buffet and _male strippers_!" She whispered the last words in delight, as though all her fantasies were being answered at once.

"I am done. If you want to go out, I need to don more appropriate clothing." Lyrius moved to do so, scowling as he bent over his suitcase and a wolf whistle answered.

"There's our first stripper of the night," Serenity giggled, apparently immune to the scowl thrown at her. "Shake it baby, shake it!"

Fran snorted, lumbering off the bed and making a beeline for the bar. Even drunk, Lyrius could tell she had learned a lot of combat skills in the intervening five years. Her left leg moved like she was still trying to get it to flex over old scar tissue and there was no uncertainty in any movement, just clumsiness. There was power in her, too, coiled in her frame and gait. Now that she was not an active threat, he addressed his next question to Serenity.

"How did you two meet?"

Replacing her shoes on her feet, Serenity gave him another grin. "Welllll I was clearing out the blackjack table, and Fran's smelly boyfriend was calling her over and over again-"

Cracking open a tonic water, Fran gave an exaggerated sigh, which was broken up by a hiccup as the bubbles went straight up her nose. Serenity patted her on the back with a little more force than necessary.

"She got really mad and stormed off, and left her chips behind. So I went to give them back. Then I distracted her silly boyfriend. We hung out. Hit the tables. These boys kept buying us huuuuge drinks. Then we started getting hungry, and Fran said she knew a place with food and _male strippers_ -" she whispered the words again in delight. "-and I said "ooo let's go get my friend! He likes food _and_ strippers!"

"...I like strippers?" Lyrius looked baffled. This whole evening was becoming very surreal.

Chewing on the end of her straw, Serenity reached over him to dig into his suitcase and fished out the photos of her and Mai, waving them around. "You got photos of me half-naked. You liiiiiike it!" She giggled, tossing them back to him with childish delight. "Hey, hey Fran. You sure your silly boyfriend won't want to come look at strippers too?"

The younger girl pulled a face. "Oh please! I'm going to be his wife someday. Destiny says so. Why would he want to look at another pair of tits when he's got a bought and paid for set already?" She slapped the aforementioned tits, stuck her tongue out at the mirror and took another swig of her tonic water.

That was a telling comment, Lyrius knew. Presumably she had been with the Dragon Master - Andy Markova - and was not happy with their relationship at the moment. And he knew from experience of watching Iris, of seeing countless lords and ladies in the same vein, that upset feelings and alcohol were a bad mix. From the sounds of it, Fran and Serenity were gearing up to do more drinking and that could lead to more lasting consequences than a hangover.

 _It is not any of my business._ He chided himself - just because he knew who she was did not mean he had any right or obligation to involve himself. One did not become your friend just because you knew their name and face, after all.

But, he realized after a few moments more of contemplation, Fran was _Serenity's_ new friend. Even as Serenity was giving Fran a rather hands-on 'doctor's exam' that left them both giggling as Serenity's fingers were more ticklish than skilled at the moment, he could see how much they already liked each other. Serenity was _happy_ , more so than even when she had explored her restored youth. It was a side of her Lyrius found he enjoyed seeing. _And I would be very remiss if I let that mood get spoilt by something tonight. Which is why I should at least accompany them - Vegas isn't 'Sin City' for nothing. And why I should not press the issue of my past connection to Fran._

Still, he felt he needed to at least check. Standing up, he caught Fran's eye and topped off her drink. "You do know my name is Lyrius, yes? Do you know who I am?"

"Of course I dooo!" Fran smiled broadly at him. "You're Ren's not-boyfriend! That she stole from Drac-drac!" She nodded, clearly satisfied with her recollection.

That was that, then. He was in the clear. For now at least.

"Not-boyfriend...fake husband…" Serenity giggled.

"Noooo!" Fran gave her a wide-eyed look of disbelief. "Is it a secret?"

"Yes! Secret! Big secret!" Serenity said, pressing a finger to her lips. "Shhh!"

"Shhh!" Fran returned, both of them dissolving into laughter. Lyrius was starting to feel like a pianist who had been thrown on to stage at the last minute in the middle of a rap battle, and he quickly took refuge in his suitcase, rummaging for clean clothing. From within someone's pocket, a phone began to buzz, and _Danger Zone_ began to play.

"Oooh that's meeee," Fran declared, dropping back onto the bed, and extracting her phone from her pocket. Her face fell instantly. "Oh come on! I don't want to answer it!" She thrust the phone out so hard that it almost went up Serenity's nose. "Ren! You answer it!"

"Noooo!" Serenity protested. "I answered it last time! You'll be okay. Remember, your job smells, and he smells, and you've been having fun!"

Fran gave another loud groan of displeasure before stabbing the accept button. "What, Andy?"

For a moment, Lyrius considered yanking the phone from her grasp and flushing it down the toilet, before Fran could inadvertently make the situation worse by drunkenly blurting out his name. But Fran was clearly intending to tell him as little as possible, as she rolled over onto her back with a scoff.

"Course I'm drunk! I'm in Vegas!" she said with an exaggerated eye roll. "...no, I didn't find anything on the stupid auction. I was out making friends." She tugged Serenity over to her side. "Hey new bestie, say hiiii!"

"Hiiiiiiii!" Serenity gave a trill that Lyrius was certain would be heard on the other side of the Plaza.

"She's awesome!" Fran enthused down the phone. "She's been teaching me how to gamble…" She blinked as her boyfriend spoke. "Yes, _gamble,_ Mister Grumpy Dragon. I've been _gambling._ S'called having fun. You should try it some time."

Lyrius would have given all of Serenity's hard won chips to have heard the other half of the conversation, and was remarkably concerned that Fran's argument appeared to be growing worse. Her frustrated expression was burning through her alcoholic haze faster and faster.

"Ugh, Andy!" Sighing as though this conversation were the biggest drag ever, Fran flipped herself over onto her front. "I don't care what you found out! Can't we just do it tomorrow? I'm actually enjoying myself for the first time in...forever!" She paused as he spoke, and a dark look crossed her face. "No I'm not telling you where I am. You'll just come find me!" Another pause. "Yeah well, maybe _I_ don't want you here! Did you ever consider that? Did you ever think that maybe I don't want you here, harshing my buzz-"

She gave a yelp as Serenity yanked the phone out of her hands. "This conversation is booooring! Night niiiiiiight!" she announced down the phone, before hanging it up with a flourish. "There you go. Problem solved!"

Fran blinked in astonishment before shaking her head. "Unbelievable. How do you know to do that? I just can't say no to him…" she shook her head and switched the device off.

Serenity laughed. "I told you, my best friend didn't take no crap from men. I learned pretty fast." She glanced around the room and started at the sight of her silent guardian. "Lyrius, why aren't you dressed? We want food and _male strippers_!"

"Why d'you keep whispering it?" Fran made a show of concealing her mouth as she spoke. Serenity gave a shrug.

"I dunno! It just makes me all giggly inside!"

"Very well. I'll be with you in a moment…" Lyrius grabbed his clothes and vanished into the bathroom to change. The process itself only took a minute, but he dragged it out as long as he could.

 _What did I do?_ He railed against whatever forces were clearly having a laugh at his expense. _Is my awkwardness so amusing to the higher powers that they feel the need to line up people from my past just to see me react?_ He knew it was childish, but life was starting to feel very unfair. First Voltaire, then Dracula, now Francesca?

He paused in mid-button as a new thought struck him. Eilistraee had warned him someone was manipulating his life and throwing obstacles in his path. In light of Fran's appearance, he couldn't just ignore that possibility. But why? And to what end? And how much danger did put him and those around him in?

Lyrius finished buttoning his shirt as the giggles of the girls reached him. Yes, he was going to go with them. If only to resolve himself of the little whisper of paranoia in the back of his head that warned him of danger. _I have no patience for the powers that be playing with my life any more._

There was a thump at the door.

"Come ooooon!" Serenity whined. "I want a nice side of meat...and some food would be good too!"

She and Fran burst into peals of laughter, and Lyrius sighed, and ran a hand through his hair. He had not got drunk since the night that the Shadowchasers had shown up in Satellite. Maybe now was the time to see if he could replicate the results without the aid of Rex's homebrew...

OOO

"Can't believe that steak only came to ten bucks on the buffet!" Fran said for what had to be the hundredth time that night as far as Lyrius was concerned.

"Yeah, how come people don't live in Vegas like...forever?" Serenity had pulled out her room key, but was favouring gesturing with it wildly over using it to open her door.

"Serenity, how do you spell ' _forever_ '?" Lyrius asked pointedly folding his arms.

"...my breath tastes like pineapples!" the doctor giggled, leaning against the wall as her mirth became too much. Making an 'awww!' of sympathy, Fran scooped up one side, leaving Lyrius to take the other.

"Come on, new bestie!" the younger woman said, taking the room key before it could drop to the carpet. "Let's put you to bed."

"Bed's for sleepy people!" the doctor declared, as the lock finally clicked and the trio meandered awkwardly through the door. Serenity's room was neat and organised, rather like Lyrius's own (it was one of the things he appreciated about her), and she immediately made the place look messy by throwing herself facedown onto the bed.

"Hey, hey Ren," Fran sat down at the doctor's feet and poked her in the hip. "M'not a doctor-"

"Nuuu that's me," Serenity interjected, face still pressed into the duvet.

"-but do we need to take your limbs off or anything before you go to bed? Like...oil them or something?" At the doctor's smothered moan, Fran looked at Lyrius. "D'you know?"

"Yes. And no, she does not."

"Good," satisfied, Fran nodded and smiled. "You're a good fake husband, Lyrius. She's lucky."

"I am luckier." Lyrius nodded firmly. "She is a perfect companion."

She frowned at him, her expression a little glazed. "...are you drunk? You don't sound drunk, but you had a lot of empty bottles when we left the club, so you must be...are you one of those lucky drunks who never sounds drunk?"

"Yes." It was a half-truth, Lyrius had indeed drunk a lot as intended, but none of it had the kick that Rex's liquor had, so he had reluctantly sobered himself up again with magic as soon as they had left the strip club. Better to be alert for any potential dangers. And to cope with with giggling women who were half-limp ninety-percent of the time. "Do you want me to call you a cab, Fran?"

"Noooo…." Fran moaned, rolling over on the bed to spoon Serenity. "I wanna stay here. Here is fun. And real."

"Real…?" Lyrius had to double-check to make sure he'd heard the word.

"Real…" Fran insisted. "You're real...like, real people. With real fun. And real life…" she shook her head, clearly despairing.

"And that's...a good thing?" Maybe the spell had not worked completely, because Lyrius was not certain that his poor brain was keeping up.

"I'm...not-real," Fran continued, fiddling with Serenity's hair as she spoke. "I'm like...a fantasy girl. Life's not-real...people are not-real...love's not-real…" She sighed heavily. "I'm tired of being not-real…"

Lyrius felt more than a few pangs of sympathy for her at the words. Whatever Fran had been through in the last five years had not been kind to her and the words, even slurred with alcohol as they were, had the undercurrent of a very reluctant truth. "I think, Fran, if you are tired of living out a fantasy story, it's time to close the book."

He was surprised to see tears in her eyes. "That's what 'Ren said…" Sniffing, she pressed her face into the blanket and began to cry.

"Nuuu…" sleepy but still able to recognise the noise, Serenity rolled over and snuggled up to her new friend. "No tears...no tears from Fran-Fran…"

Fran nodded, but the cracks in the dam were there and she kept crying, sniffling hard in a vain attempt to suck them back up.

Lyrius felt his heart lurch again and wished there was something he could do. This was not his forte and Serenity, the person he would usually ask for advice, was also drunk with this one. He was debating between leaving and covering them up with a blanket when something fuzzy brushed his leg.

Without thinking or looking, he reached down, grabbed the fuzzy thing and pushed it at Fran. "Here. Cuddle this."

Fran blinked through wet eyes at the gold-orange lump of fur in the man's hands and brightened with a watery sniff, reaching out to pluck the cat from his hand and cradle it to her chest. "Kitty…"

"My kitty...good kitty...good Therapy…" Serenity grinned, clumsily petting at the cat and getting mostly Fran's arm.

It was a touching moment, and Lyrius felt safer to retreat as Fran sniffed and sobbed into the cat's fur. Therapy squirmed, clearly not liking her new role as substitute teddy bear in the least, but between Fran and Serenity, her efforts to escape were in vein.

Finally, Serenity and Fran fell asleep as tiredness and alcohol caught up to them. Lyrius carefully reached out and pried Fran's arm loose enough for Therapy to scamper free and then covered them both with a blanket. Satisfied that they would be alright, he started for the door. He paused as he felt a pair of eyes watching him reproachfully.

"...don't look at me like that," he told the latest addition to the herd. "It was her idea to make you a comfort animal. Be mad at her."

With a look that could surely fell armies, Therapy stalked off to the next room, presumably to remove the mess of tears and snot that now matted her fur.

TTTTTTT

The church was parked about half a mile from the Vegas Strip, defying and condemning the flashy lights and surface-level glamour with a simple structure, white paint and a single cross affixed to the roof. In a place like Vegas, such a practical approach was almost avant-garde in its execution and it was not much of a stretch to think that the church was a modern art piece. One that commented on the fact that no matter how many people partied in Vegas, crossing the continent and oceans to just lose money, none bothered to make the simple trek to the church and where spiritual fulfillment lay.

 _The 'Foreclosed' sign on it is also a good deterrent._ Dracula gave the building a critical once over as she approached. There was no telltale feeling of faith and prayer emanating from it, so the building must have been abandoned for several years at least. More, if the weeds covering the remnants of the parking lot were any indication. Yet this was the place, her information network had informed her, that the elf she sought had been heading towards.

A check on Francesa's last moves had revealed that she entered Vegas a few days previously and before that, had been known to partner with the elf bounty hunter Solex Delamare alongside her boyfriend. Solex was also in Vegas and had become yet another figure from Lyrius' past to cross his path almost by sheer luck.

 _Or by a nudge from something on high._ Dracula was not pleased by how that notion was becoming more and more apparent. The last thing any in Lyrius' group needed was someone trying to play puppetmaster. He was finally on the mend and things were looking brighter and she would not allow any interference in the healing process.

To ensure that, she had to figure out who was pulling the strings and Solex was her only lead. She needed to find out why he was Vegas specifically, and what had lead him here, as well as Fran. Then persuade them to leave.

Gunshots rang out from the church, followed by ardent shouting and a few more shots. Dracula did not even break stride, instead dissolving her being into a free-flowing mist in the span of a few strides. The mist swirled and slithered its way up into the air and through the gaps in the boarded up stained-glass window. With another rippling and twist, it resolved itself back to Dracula perched upon the choir loft railing like a gargoyle.

Down below, it was like a bull had been set loose in the church. Pews were scattered and tossed haphazardly around, the altar a broken wreck from the cross falling atop it. Broken glass and destroyed statuary were everywhere.

As for Solex, he was ducked behind a stack of pews, poking his head around it sporadically to open fire on his target. Across from him was another elf, dressed like a Catholic priest, holding an open Bible in one hand and proselytizing with the other. The book was glowing, pages tearing themselves free as sheets of light and dancing in front of him. Occasionally they would spark as they deflected bullets or twist into screws to volley at Solex. But for now they only succeeded in lodging in or tearing out hunks of pew.

"Accept the judgement of the Lord in Heaven and you shall be set free of thy pain and suffering!" The priest declared in a ringing, passionate voice that only a believer could possess. "Humble before the message from on high and know salvation through forgiveness!"

"I'd rather have a shot of brandy and a pretty lady for my pain and suffering!" Solex fired back, along with a few rounds from his weapon that failed to reach their target. "Though I'd settle for you shutting up and saving my ears from that screech you call a voice!"

A few more screws of page pierced the pew, ringing like metal as they struck. "If you shall not heed the truth as it is spoken to you, then know it as the wrath of the righteous and just! Your eyes shall be opened one way or another!"

"I think I agree with the bounty hunter," Dracula put in as she stepped off the railing and almost floated down to the center aisle to land gracefully. "Your voice is quite the screech. More like the cawing of a parrot spewing out words that it does not grasp the real meaning of, rather than a man of the cloth."

Solex stared at her, startled by the vampire's arrival while the priest merely cocked his head, his Bible pages floating around him patiently. "Are you another lost soul, looking to fold into the flock of the virtuous, or a wolf of sin to stalk them?"

"Neither. I am not the placid sheep nor the howling wolf." Dracula sneered, revealing one of her fangs. "I am that which eats the wolf."

The priest didn't hesitate - she gave him that. His floating pages morphed into lances of light that fired at her all at once. But she had already leapt clear, leaving them to lodge into the floor as she sprinted over the tops of the pews to land a roundhouse kick to his head. The priest went flying, tumbling over himself as he crashed into the ruined altar, Bible soaring from his grasp as it slipped from his now limp fingers.

Dracula watched as he lay there, his moans of pain long and haggard given how she had just dislocated his jaw. The priest twitched and spasmed, but couldn't make any move to rise. "That was easy."

"You're telling me." Solex said as he came up behind her cautiously. "I've been in a firefight with him for the last ten minutes and been arguing religion for twenty. I thought he'd never shut up."

"Whereas I would like you to keep talking, Mister Delamare." The vampire rounded on him, letting a predator's pleasure show on her face when he recoiled slightly at the hardness in her eyes. "Ah, you _do_ know I am."

"Lyrius filled me in and I'm going to hazard a guess and say you're here about him." Solex said in a wary tone. He kept his gun pointed at the floor, but his finger hadn't left the trigger.

"Correct. I'll keep this short. In the last few months, Lyrius has had an extraordinary run of luck, given that wherever he goes, he runs into a person from his past. Who then invariably seems to get involved in a rather dangerous adventure. Or attempt to kill him. The line between the two is sometimes blurred."

"I didn't even know Lyrius was here. I'm in Vegas following up on a bounty, trying to retrieve a magical sword for my client."

"And you have no intention to involve Lyrius in this?"

"Hey, all I did was get help with some necromancy weirdness that's happening on this case. The killer murdered my thief and stole the sword from him." Solex informed her, jerking his head at the still moaning priest. "Got word that a man dressed like a priest and calling himself Gospel Truth was buying the ingredients for _cyphin._ Tracked him down with the drakeweed purchases. When he learned I was onto him, he booked it out here. I figure this is where he hid the sword."

"I see." Dracula said and turned back to the priest with fresh eyes. "And what would a priest with clear divine power need with necromancy?"

"I have the faintest clue, except he's not right in the head." Solex hestiated, obviously considering something before speaking again. "He's been killing people all over town and stealing their eyes with necromancy."

"No."

The firmness of Dracula's tone was so strong that Solex had to take an extra moment to be sure he'd heard her. "Wanna clue me in?"

"He would reek of undead magic and drakeweed if he really was crafting _cyphin_ and using it. He does not smell. I would theorize that he is merely collecting the ingredients for the real murderer."

"Of course he is. It'd be too easy otherwise." Solex sighed and raked a hand through his hair. "Well, I don't suppose I could get you to do that vampire mojo on him and get him to spill his guts?"

"You could not." Dracula agreed, turning to him again. "I am here to deliver a caution. Stay away from Lyrius and those surrounding him, Solex. At least for the time being. Someone is manipulating events and you may be inadvertently caught up in this. I do not want the complication of your presence."

Solex held up his hands in a defensive posture. "Hey, no need to get pushy. If the ruler of all vampires says stay away, I'll stay away."

"That goes for your two proteges as well."

"Ah, yeaaahh…" Solex looked sheepish as he considered that. "Two of the Three Heroes that killed his wife and ruined his life wouldn't really help Lyrius at all, would they?"

"No."

"Right, then. I'm going to interrogate the preacher, then." Solex said and then paused in mid-step, eyes widening. "Well, crap."

Dracula turned, lifting an eyebrow to find the priest on his feet. Hands on his lower jaw, he gave a hard shove and with a hard 'click!', popped the bone back into place. "He is a simple matter to take care of. I will do you the favor."

Then she saw what Solex meant. The priest's Bible was empty of pages, hundreds of the glowing sheets hanging in the air above his head. Even as they watched, many of them began to shift into lances of light. And then they all fired.

Solex jumped for cover, two quick shots from his weapon smashing a pair of lances that would have skewered him before he landed. Several more punched at the pew, splintering it apart.

Dracula merely leapt up and back as the ones targeting her gouged out hunks of the floor. An eyebrow rose as she watched Gospel sprint for her, snapping one of lances up. Sheets of glowing light floated under his feet, becoming a stair leading right to her.

She caught the spear point on her palm, grunting in pain as the shock traveled up her arm and there the sizzle of burning flesh. _So his weapons have some divine might behind them._

"Fear not the defiler nor the corruptor, for a righteous heart shall be your armor and the justice of your words your lance!" Gospel ripped another sheet of light from the air in his free hand, transforming it into a claw-headed polearm that he drove at her chest.

Dracula caught it in her other hand, but the sheer force behind the weapon slammed her into the ground. Gospel followed soon after, the vampire rolling to her feet to avoid a stab that would have pulped her head. Only to crash back to the ground as he whipped the lance around to sweep her legs out from under her.

Another sheet of light in his grasp and it became a broadaxe hissing for her face. She slammed her palms together, catching the sides of the blade just before it could impact. The edge danced on her nose, leaving a thin wisp of smoke rising from the burnt skin. "Repent your sins and know rightful judgement!"

Dracula just smiled and her leg came up, foot catching him square in the face. He stumbled backwards, weapon vanishing back into motes of light as he lost his grip. In a whirl of blood-red clothing and her fanged smile, Dracula was back on her feet. With one single powerful forward lunge, her outstretched claw pierced his chest and pinned him to the wall with stone-shaking force.

Gospel twitched in her grip, gasping as his mind struggled to grasp the sudden pain. "My..god…"

"Is not here right now." Dracula's mirthless smile seemed to lower the ambient temperature of the church by a few degrees. "There's only a devil."

Gospel spluttered, blood trickling from the corners of his mouth. But then he smiled. "Know that the word of God embraces all, even they should reject his mercy."

The puzzling words were all Dracula got as the glowing sheets of paper descend on her in a flurry. They wrapped around her, head-to-toe and bound like her mummy. Gospel dropped as her arms were pinned to her side, uncaring about his fresh wound as the vampire struggled in vain against the magical pages.

Solex swore under his breath as Dracula vanished, becoming a person-shaped pillar of Bible pages. He took aim at Gospel, but his finger never tightened on the trigger as he saw all the pages ripple. And he realized what was about to happen. "Oh, crap!"

As one, the hundreds of pages all transformed into lances, spears, tridents and polearms. Blood splattered everywhere on the church as they impaled Dracula. Her clothing was shredded in a flash, wisps of it floating in all directions like some sort of bizarre confetti. Flesh rent and bone cracked apart as the array of weapons tore her into bloody chunks. In the space it took to blink, what had once been person was now nothing more than unidentifiable strips of meat.

Gospel smiled. "Thus, shall it ever be to sinners."

The dripping strips of meat all spasmed in unison.

Solex gawked as they did it again.

Gospel's smiled fell apart, replaced by a horrified look of realization as they spasmed again. "Impossible! This is impossible! You _are_ dead!"

One hunk of flesh that might have been part of her skull because a single eye was still there, twitched. Then the eye shifted and zeroed in on Gospel.

Solex didn't know whether to be sick or impressed.

Gospel lifted a hand and the weapons all morphed back into pages. Wet thuds filled the church as the pieces of meat hit the ground and he ripped a sheet out of the air. He slapped it on the ground. "Be purged by the word of God and cleansed in the fires of eternal mercy!"

The sheet erupted into golden flames that flooded across the floor and consumed the flesh. When it did so, it immediately began to billow black, choking smoke.

And out of that smoke resolved Dracula, Naked, but alive. And whole. And angry. "That _hurt._ "

Gospel was already wrenching a polearm out of one of his pages, but it was too slow. Dracula caught the weapon in mid-swing, leveraging it against so she could hurl him over her head into the altar for the second time that night. This time, the altar shattered into dust and then the dust became a cloud as Dracula hurled a hunk of pew into the priest's stomach.

Solex stared in astonishment. "That should have _killed_ you."

"There's a reason there's a lot of stories about how only certain methods can kill a vampire, Mister Delamare." Dracula said with a knowing smile. "They're the only ones that stick."

"But one of those things had to have pierced your heart!"

"I don't need the thing to begin with. Why should I care if it does get pierced?" Dracula watched as Gospel staggered to his feet, leaning heavily on a piece of debris. The priest opened his mouth, but all that came out was a jet of blood - with every breath he hacked out, the wood lodged in his gut jerked. "That's enough out of you, priest. Your pages of myths and stories can't hurt me."

"Though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death, I fear not…" Gospel ground out. "For you are with me. And your rod and staff comfort me…"

Dracula didn't respond, frowning as she watched Gospel's free hand seizing something in the wreckage of the altar. Then her eyes widened as he pulled out a sword.

But it was not any sword. It was entirely black, the only color on the dark metal being gold filigree in the shape of a howling wolf near the pommel. And the blade...the blade was not black. It was simply a void in the shape of a blade. It was black only because it did not absorb light, but rejected it. From the remnants of the golden fire still flickering at her feet to the glaring lights that lit the building, all illumination seemed to veer away from the blade. As if it were afraid.

And it had every right to be. Dracula knew that sword. Had felt it pierce her flesh, seen it slash through stone like nothing, heard it's magic suck the very life and light and color from the world.

Had made love to its owner.

That was _Oblivion._ That was _Lyrius'_ sword.

And Gospel was holding it aloft, lifting the heavy weapon in one hand despite his wound. "Know that those who are devout in their denial of God's loving grace, that only an abyss awaits them!"

This was not possible. Dracula knew that _Oblivion_ judged its wielders, that only a scant few could hold the weapon without it killing them for their unworthiness. And she could see _Oblivion_ attempting to do so - the whole length of the weapon was shimmering with twisting black embers that seemed ready to ignite the air itself. They were searing Gospel's hand, burning flesh down to the bone and charring the bone down to the marrow.

The priest did not seem to care, his eyes lit with an inner fire that only true belief brings. "I am the sword of God most high and with the swing of this blade, I cast heaven's judgement! I am the thunder of his wrath, the heat of his justice and the fury of his sorrow!"

The embers around the sword ignited, wreathing the weapon in surging black flames. Gospel laughed, even as Dracula crossed the distance between them and punched her hand through his chest. His heart was in her grasp and she squeezed the organ until it popped like a balloon.

Gospel did not die. He did not even care. Perhaps faith sustained him. Or perhaps madness. He brought the weapon down. _"Getsuga…"_

Dracula flung herself back, scattering her physical form into mist that tore itself apart in its hurry to escape. Out the windows, the ceiling, the doors, anywhere there was an egress.

It wasn't enough as the swing completed and a void of darkness ripped out of the arc of the motion, spreading and swallowing up her awareness in an explosion of power. _"TENSHO!"_

TTTTTTTT

 _A/N:_ _Whoo, another chapter down! And with a lovely cliffhanger! A fun fact for this arc is that originally, Dracula was not a part of it and that Lyrius and Serenity would have wound up competing in the Dueling Underworld instead of their tournament. They would have run into Castiel again and Lyrius would have been incapacitated by the Orichalcos, forcing Andy and Serenity to team-up to run the gauntlet._

 _Our next chapter is going to be a heavy one as the plot threads become tied together and our characters are drawn deeper into a web of dangers. Who is manipulating Lyrius' life? And why? Why is his sword here in Vegas?_

 _Next Chapter - Vegas: Ancient, Modern or Sexual?_


	20. Vegas: Ancient, Modern or Sexual?

Kintsugi  
By 7th Librarian

 _A/N:_ _Many, many apologies for the massive lateness of this chapter. But NaNoWriMo and holiday season and all got in the way. But my wife and I have poured our best efforts into this chapter and we know it is sure to be an awesome read!_

Chapter 20: Vegas: Ancient, Modern or Sexual?

On one level, Serenity appreciated the fact that even after years of inactivity as a medical professional, her ability to snap awake in response to the cry of 'Doctor!' reminded fully intact. Every second mattered when you were trying to save a life and the ability to transition from sleep to alertness saved you a handful of seconds that could very well be the difference between life and death.

One another level, this 'instant wake' ability meant that when her brained flipped to 'on', she was bombarded with every scrap of information her senses could process and as fast as they could recognize them. Thus, the monolithic weight of her headache rammed into the front of her skull, the twisted, dry taste of cotton choked her tongue as Lyrius' voice in her ears - quiet, urgent- tried to vibrate her brain to mush as the dim, dim glow of the moon pouring in the window felt like hot pokers shoved into her eye sockets.

The doctor part of her mind diagnosed her condition as a 'return of that hangover we got when we graduated medical college and Mai taught us how to make cocktails'.

The duelist part of her mind loudly voiced its opinion that now they had access to dark magic, they should really try out the whole 'banish people to the Shadow Realm' thing on anyone that ever dared to wake them to this hell again.

The Serenity part of her mind, drunk, sluggish and recognizing only the fact it was Lyrius scooping her up out of the warm bed into his warm arms, buried her face in his neck with a sleepy giggle. "Isit times for snuggles?"

"Serenity, we need your skills." Lyrius ignored her affections and she could feel him moving, carrying her with quick, sure strides. "Dracula's been severely injured."

"Wha-? Dracula hurt?" Medical concern and awareness slogged their way through the bog of her hangover. "How? When?"

"Earlier tonight - she took a full strike from my sword." There was a door opening and then his footsteps altered in the distinct echoey pitch of a staircase. The darkness around them shifted, Serenity tingled all over and then they were moving through another door - he'd teleported them up the stairwell.

"Don't have things - go hospital-" Words shoved out through cotton mouth.

"They will not be able to treat this. Dracula is not a human." Lyrius shouldered open a door and Serenity hissed in anger as bright light scoured her brain. "I have her."

"Excellent. It's not just anyone I want inside of me." Dracula's voice battered down the rest of the hangover - it was tired, loaded with pain and very strained.

Lyrius put Serenity down and swore under his breath as she slumped against, her flesh-and-blood leg folding up while she struggled to hide from the light. "Serenity-"

"Can't operate - no prep, drunk - not safe." The words were clipped, the bare minimum that she could grasp out of the dozens of threads her mind was working over to process all that was happening. "Hospital-"

"No time." Lyrius pressed his fingers to the teardrop ruby at the hollow of her throat. There was a buzzing tingle over her body that she had come to recognize as magic and Serenity felt like someone had poured ice water in her veins. The pounding headache was silenced, her tongue no longer dry and thick and the light hurt no longer.

The sight of Dracula would have sobered her up if the magic hadn't.

The vampire was sprawled over the dining table of her penthouse suit, a hastily thrown over sheet underneath her. She was split open from collarbone to pelvis, but only a few dribbles of blood leaked down her otherwise flawless skin. Organs were visible as well - but only in half-measures. Most looked like pieces of themselves, barely recognizable as what they were. Her ribcage was far too slender and narrow, more like string laced over her torso.

More frightening than any of that was the fact Dracula was awake and alert, a tube in her mouth connected to what looked like a gallon milk jug full of blood suspended above her. Several empty ones were scattered carelessly on the floor. "If you would not mind, Doctor. I am feeling rather drafty."

"What the fuck!?" Serenity couldn't help the words, her brain comprehending the individual pieces of what was in front of her but refusing to piece together into a whole picture due to the sheer impossibility of it all. "You should be dead!"

"And I am." Dracula assured her, taking a hard suck on her blood and groaning in great pain. "Albeit, uncomfortably so."

"Dracula is able to regenerate," Lyrius explained, pushing Serenity forwards with a firm hand on her shoulder. "But the magic she was hit with has suffused itself into her body and is complicating the process."

His push got both Serenity's body and mind moving. Clinical analysis shoved aside her confused fear and started taking stock of the vampire's wounds. The organs and bones she could see were indeed regrowing, slowly expanding in size and definition like fleshy balloons. They were also wrong - the ribs crossed each other, her intestines were connected to a lung, stomach trying to swallow her heart. And through it all, Serenity could see odd shadows where there shouldn't be any. Each blink shifted their position slightly, as if they were tricks of the light.

"What do I need to do?" There was no time wasting saying she that this was so far out of her depth she might as well have no training at all - Serenity had a patient. And she was a doctor. Magic or not, vampire or not, she was going to help. "How?"

"I do not need my organs to live, but I need them in their proper places like any other being." Dracula gulped down more blood, her claws scraping at the table underneath in the pain the action caused her. "Remove the magic and correct them."

Serenity knelt next to her. "I can barely see them."

"They are shadow magic, Serenity." Lyrius was pushing a footrest with a tray of surgical instruments on it at her. There wasn't a reason to ask where they had gotten them or time. "Use your own to see them."

Serenity did so, the weight of her Doctor Death mask sliding into place on her face. The lenses did not leave the world tinged in red, however, and through them, she could see bits of shadow. Now they were not dancing, but oily solids that had mass and depth. They smoked through Dracula's insides, squashing the regrowth of the organs or melting new connections together.

This was surreal. Dracula did not actually seem to be in danger of death. Yet she needed surgical assistance. Her organs were apparently decorative and yet needed to be arranged like throw pillows in her chest cavity. The vampire was conscious and capable of speaking like they were talking about the weather, yet was clearly under immense, crippling pain.

But she was a patient and Serenity her doctor. That was not surreal. Serenity felt Instinct materialize, the familiar tying back her hair before helping the doctor pull on surgical gloves and a mask. The moment that was done, Instinct slipped into the role of nurse and began to hand her the tools Serenity needed.

"What can I do?"

Serenity looked up to see Lyrius watching with that quiet urgency he had when there was a crisis, though his face paler than normal. There was a sincere worry in his eyes and that alone told Serenity that Dracula was indeed in grave danger.

"There's nothing you can do, Lyrius, except remove yourself as a distraction." Her tone was brisk, professional. All doctor. "I'll call if I need anything."

There was hesitation and she knew that he was racking his brain to find a counterargument - he was not one to sit around during a crisis. But then he nodded and with one last look into Dracula's eyes, turned and left.

"He is rather charming when he frets and hovers, my songbird…" Dracula seemed to be pulling the words from far way, her voice finally wavering in strength. "I just hope...that I do not give him reason to sing a funeral dirge…"

"You won't." Serenity assured her. "I'm here."

"You are. And I am happy for it." Dracula laughed and her organs quivered like Jell-O. "Must be a first for you, Doctor. Operating on a dead person like they were just a puzzle…"

Serenity didn't respond as Dracula's head fell back and Instinct slapped an allis clamp into her palm. She grabbed at a piece of oily shadow with them, but a soft pull only had a little give. A closer examination showed why - it was fused to the vampire's flesh. Instinct passed her a scalpel and Serenity carefully cut as close to that attached flesh as she could. It still caused Dracula pain - the scrap of her claws gouging lines into the wooden surface and muffled, choked back scream was proof of that.

But it was enough - Serenity dropped the piece into a bowl, watching it dissolve into the ether slowly. And where it had been, Dracula's own flesh seemed to spill fresh blood over the remaining sliver and regrow new flesh where it had been.

But there were still more pieces shifting around her body and the organs to fix.

It was going to be a long, long night.

TTTTTTT

Fran was not nearly as unconscious as Lyrius had assumed.

Though she certainly wished she was.

She lay on the mattress, still as a statue until she was sure that the footsteps had disappeared down the corridor. Her heart was thudding in her chest, sending a nasty throbbing through her ears and as she carefully inched upright, she hardly dared to breathe.

 _That was Lyrius._

It was as if the fact had been dancing away with the fairies all night, and now slammed into her terrified brain with the force of a freight train. How had she missed that? She could not have been _that_ drunk...well, maybe she could have, she reflected as she gingerly got to her feet and felt a familiar wave of exhaustion sweep over her. She had certainly not been sober by any means.

 _But drunk enough to blank on the man who's wife I helped murder?_ No. She had spent the last five years running around the country fighting bad people, and making a lot of enemies. They were the same instincts that had jolted her from sleep as soon as she had heard Lyrius step into the room to retrieve Serenity. They would not have deserted her at the first mention of the Queen's Shadow.

 _He's supposed to be dead..._

She needed to get out of there. She needed to process this.

Her boots had not wandered far, but her jacket and purse had been spread around the room and she had no recollection of how - in fact she had no recollection of getting back to the room. The last thing she definitely remembered was slipping a couple of singles into the oily g-string of a policeman, and wondering idly if he was oiled everywhere else too.

She was very glad sometimes that Andy could not read her mind.

She slipped out of the door and tried to orient her scrambled brain as the corridor lights flicked automatically on at the presence of movement. There were not many rooms on this floor - _That's right, Serenity said they had suites_ \- and the lack of noise gave the entire place an eerie vibe. She hurried quickly down the plush carpet and pressed the button for the elevator, tapping impatiently at the mirrored wall as she did. This seemed like just the place for an ambush in a horror movie.

But strangely she did not feel scared. Just anxious to get away from an awkward encounter. And sad that she could not thank Serenity for a great night out. She hadn't had that much fun in years. Certainly she could never have gone gambling and gone to a strip club with Andy. And now that she thought about it, Lyrius had joined in. He had gone to the strip club, eaten with them, and watched the performances without complaining. On one or two occasions, she could have sworn he was almost enjoying himself. And he had been courteous to her, and affectionate with Serenity when she had latched onto his arm over and over again like an excitable monkey.

Had he not recognised her? It did not seem likely. She did not remember much, but she had felt his eyes on her once or twice. She had assumed in her tipsy state that he might just think she was hot.

 _Not hot._ She thought, as the elevator door pinged open. _Just memorable._

Why on earth hadn't he said anything? She had not seen him that much on Arcadia, but she had never got the impression that he was the sort to shy from any potential problem. Could it be that he was trying to hide his past? Maybe Serenity did not know about Arcadia or his former life. But that did not feel right either. Lyrius did not strike her as the deceptive type. And his care for Serenity had been obvious all night. _Maybe he just didn't want to spoil our night._

The only thing that had really spoilt her night really was Andy, and the thought of going back to him now made her heart sink into her stomach. She felt instantly guilty for it, especially as she remembered everything she had said to Serenity the previous night about her unwanted caller. _Andy's a good guy. And he loves me._ It was the same thing she always told herself when they argued, or she had moments of doubt. And she had a _lot_ of moments of doubt.

But lately it had started to sound flimsy. Words that had been worn too many times and now provided only threadbare protection from the cold. And today it felt especially chilly.

 _I need to get out of here_. She thought again. _I can't deal with this mess right now._

She was not even sure which mess she meant anymore.

TTTTTTT

Lyrius sat in a plush chair, not really feeling or allowing himself to sink into its comfortableness. His gaze was fixed nothing except infinite distance and his body did not so much as twitch. Coupled with the near-total darkness of the room, he might as well been a statue carved from the shadows. As dark and cold as the death he was contemplating - both on the vampire who might yet received its embrace tonight and the being he was going to deliver it upon as a result. A grim reaper so fierce and determined that the real deal might be given pause upon encountering him before allowing him to borrow its scythe.

"Okay, I like your Batman schitck as much as the next person, but if you stare any harder at nothing, _something_ is going to combust." Solex's light chiding heralded his slipping into the room and flicking on the light switch with his elbow. He had a steaming mug in either hand.

Lyrius did not move or respond, not until the elf had reached him and held out one of the mugs. When he accepted it, it was a autonomic response. As was the appreciative drink he took and the realization he was drinking some kind of spiced coffee. His thoughts and energy were on something else entirely. "Tell me again what happened, Solex."

The elf seated himself opposite Lyrius, taking a drink of his own mug. "I followed your hunch about the drakeweed. Only four suppliers in the city. All of them had sold to an elf dressed like a Catholic priest going by the name Gospel. A little checking found that same elf apparently was Hurst's private priest and they had been seen together often before his murder. After that, I tracked his location down to that rundown church and when I tried to talk to him, he literally started throwing the word of God at me."

"And Dracula found you there as well."

"Yeah. Don't know how, but she did. We fought him and after some anime-level reality-breaking moves, Gospel pulled out _Oblivion_ and went all Ichigo Kurosaki on our asses. After that, I've got a vampire lump of regrowing mist commanding me to get her back here. She was leaking some kind of ichor…" Solex glanced down at his stained clothing and sighed. "This is never going to come out, is it?"

Lyrius ignored the complaint. "At what point were you going to tell me the sword you were hunting was _Oblivion_?"

Solex held up his free hand, palm outwards. "Hey, don't get cranky at me, old man! I didn't know it was that particular sword!"

"Do not lie to me, Solex." Lyrius snapped. "You would have gotten a description of the weapon when you took on the case. And there is no way my old partner would fail to recognize my sword." When Solex didn't answer right away, his gaze narrowed. "Who hired you to retrieve that weapon?"

Solex sighed into his mug. "I suppose there's no point in hiding it now. About two months ago, I was contacted by a representative of the Arcadian government who said they'd make it worth my while to retrieve the sword." He gave Lyrius a look. "I only accepted because it _was_ your sword. I knew that even if you didn't want it yourself, you'd probably feel better if it was sitting in a museum or vault somewhere."

Lyrius knew the elf was right. While he no longer had a particular attachment to the magical blade, it was still a weapon and therefore dangerous in the wrong hands. "Thank you. That was thoughtful of you."

"Hey, you've got some bad history with that thing. Least I could do for you was try and close that particular chapter of your life."

"I lost _Oblivion_ to the House of St. Cuthbert. How did it get to a crime boss and then Vegas?"

"Same way most valuable magical artifacts usually wind up in the hands of criminals. They murdered the person carrying it and ran off with it." Solex shook his head. "I've been chasing it ever since and Lyrius, that sword is a freaking nightmare. Six of its owners became extra crispy and very dead before I caught up to them, yet people _still_ keep stealing it off them!"

" _Oblivion_ may not be alive in the traditional sense, my friend, but it judges those who try to use it and purges the unworthy. Iris was very determined to ensure her gift to me could not be used by 'lesser' beings."

" 'Cast in the name of the Shadow Queen, ye guilty' " Solex quoted and then frumped a little when Lyrius lifted a curious eyebrow. "Okay, I know I introduced you to _The Big O_ when we were working. You should totally get that!"

"What I do not get is how Gospel is able to wield the sword. Do you have any idea as to how that might be possible?"

"Nope. It's your sword, I was hoping you would."

Lyrius considered it. " _Oblivion_ is unique. It's alignment was altered after my first death by being sealed in a holy stone for five hundred years. In simplistic terms, it's 'True Neutral' as opposed to 'Good' or 'Evil'. But means a strong enough belief in an Good or Evil power could allow the wielder to bypass the sword's judgement, force it to obey. A former general of Iris' managed to do so by bargaining with an Abyssal Lord.

Solex looked skeptical. "So Gospel's belief in God let him tell a sword that kills anyone it doesn't like touching what to do? He's not a real priest and is missing more than just a few screws, Lyrius."

"Just because Gospel is not in his right mind does not mean his belief in a higher power is any less valid than a real priest's. In fact, it might be even more so given how fervent people like him can be in their fanaticism. But it could also be something else entirely - you said earlier _Oblivion_ was hurting him as he wielded it. It could be he simply had some kind of temporary protection."

"Well, that's just great! Not only is Gospel buying _cyphin_ ingredients for the actual serial killer, he's wielding an infinity-plus-one sword, too!" Solex threw up his hands in exasperation, nearly spilling his coffee. "This case was supposed to be a simple fetch job! And I was doing it as a favor to you, too!"

Lyrius smiled at his friend's annoyance. "Sierra Leone was supposed to be a simple fetch job, too. And we wound up on the run from those drug traffickers, the Mafia _and_ that dwarf ballet group within two days."

"They all wanted that stupid clock! And all it did was chime on the wrong time, anyway! Drove me so nuts you might as well changed _my_ name to cuckoo…" Solex rolled his eyes at the memory. "Okay, we still don't know why Gospel or his serial killer friend want the sword. I know why Hurst wanted it - he was going to sell it to repay debts. But why would they steal the sword? Can you use it to perform necromancy?"

"No." Lyrius shook his head. "Was Hurst targeted because of the sword?"

"Not that I've found. And he doesn't share any commonality with any of the other serial killer victims, either. It looks like he was just another target picked at random." Solex grunted in deep-seated annoyance. "My leads are drying up, Gospel's on the run and nothing about this case makes enough sense to give me change for dollar!"

Grumpy at just how exhausting this evening was being, Lyrius gave him a look. "Does somebody tip you a dollar each time you make a bad pun?"

"Only so I'll shut up about it. Which means that you owe me about a thousand bucks for all the years we've known each other." Solex grinned. "Pretty punbelievable that you otterly owe me so much money. It's so right that it's left."

"Do you take payments in beatings?" Lyrius huffed at him. "Your humor is anything but."

"Only to an old man with sensibilities centuries out of date and an overly-sophisticated mind."

"Does that mean you're calling yourself dumb?"

"Touche." Solex laughed, but it wilted in the next moment when he saw Lyrius wasn't joining him. With a low sigh, he drunk some coffee and pointed upstairs with a metal finger. "You're really worried about her, aren't you?"

"Yes. Dracula is next-to-indestructible, but to see her regeneration twisted into something so agonizing, the pain of her body regrowing itself again and again must endless." Lyrius allowed himself a very real, very rare shudder of discomfort. "And it was my blade that did it."

"But you weren't swinging it and Dracula is a tough lady, if even half of the stories I've heard are true about what she's lived through." Solex reminded him. "You were just telling me earlier about how you were progressing. Let's not have you blackslide by playing 'it's all my fault'. You're way too good at that game."

"Yes. Thank you for the reminder." Lyrius meant that - Solex had always been a good voice of reason and practicality. It had been one of the reasons they'd partnered up. And that brought to mind something he'd often failed to follow-up on during said partnership. "How are you faring?"

"I'm fine, except for being scuffed up a bit. That attack wasn't anything like yours, Dracula just got a faceful. I wasn't even near the blast radius." Solex said, glancing at his phone. "But I'll feel better after I've gotten some sleep and a change of clothes. You should try get a little of that yourself."

"I do not sleep, remember."

"No, you just don't sleep well. You treat it like an enemy to be held off at all costs, not a lover to be embraced." Solex said as he stood with a wry smile. "Not that I can complain. Made it easy to pawn off the stakeouts on you."

"I volunteered because someone would not stop hitting on the female marks." Lyrius retorted. "You get bored too easily."

"Yep. It's why I got myself a couple of proteges to do that for me. I should check in with them, too. If we can't find Gospel or his serial killer buddy, then maybe we can find the crime boss who wanted the sword in the first place. If he tracked it down once, he might have a way to do it again."

"Be careful in doing so. I will not be there to fight our way of another mess your 'charms' have gotten us into."

"Duly noted." Solex squeezed the other man's shoulder. "I'll tell you if we find anything and you keep me updated on Dracula, alright? I owe her one for bailing me out."

"I'm sure Dracula will find the most irritating, annoying way to collect on that debt." Lyrius let himself have a grim smile, though it was brief. "Good night, Solex."

"Night, old man." Then he was gone, the door clicking shut behind him and leaving Lyrius alone.

He wasn't quite sure what to do with himself. Hovering around Serenity as she worked on Dracula was to accomplish nothing but being an irritant, both of the pets had absconded to the roof for whatever reason Resonae had cooked up and going out to the Vegas night-life had no appeal to him. He briefly considered going to wake Francesca and letting the bad blood argument of 'your wife tried to murder me!' he knew was waiting to happen, _just_ for something to do that wasn't sitting and thinking.

But no such relief was forthcoming and he resigned himself to his fate, his thoughts darkening as he recalled the shock seeing Solex carry the half-reformed, half-twisted vampire through the door and how she had reached desperately for him. The moment he had seen it, he'd known. _It was my weapon that did this._

He had thrown _Oblivion_ away more than two years ago - he was not able to attune himself fully as he had when it had forged for him and at his worst, all it had been was another reminder of his failures to protect his family and Empire. Getting rid of it had seemed the logical choice, especially since no one but him could actually use it. _I was foolish to think that it would remain so indefinitely. Too many want that sword's power._

And now Dracula had paid the price for his angst-fueled arrogance. He knew that the vampire was exceptionally and ridiculously hard to kill since even totally destroying her body would just mean she'd get a new one. With Serenity operating on her and the vast store of blood she had on hand, her recovery was certain. That didn't mean it hurt any less to see someone he loved reduced to such a miserable state.

He ran his hands down his face, swearing to himself that as soon as this mess was resolved, he was going to find a way to make this up to Dracula. True, none of this was his fault in as much it was just a weird set of coincidences that had this outcome. Coincidences that weren't coincidences. He had ignored Eiliastraee's warning about his life being manipulated, but Dracula had not and it was an insult to her efforts on his behalf to keep on sticking his head in the sand over this.

So that left the questions of who wanted to manipulate him and why. He knew it wasn't St. Cuthbert's House or the Knights of Dominel. Neither organization was happy with him, the former for the abandonment of his position as their Sword and the latter with his mere existence because of his relationship to the Shadow Queen. _However, both groups prefer a direct method of dealing with their enemies - subtle machinations did not show the glory of their cause of the power of their justice, after all._

That also put things like the forces of Hell and the Abyss off the list, too. The Lords of the Nine and Abyssal Lords had their own powerful agents and centuries-long schemes to worry about - a single, broke man was not even a blip on their radar. Even Graz'zt, Iris' patron lord, was not a option. Iris had been a powerful servant of the Abyssal Lord, but that had been over a thousand years ago. She had lost much of her power during her imprisonment and so, her usefulness and status in Graz'zt's eyes. Collecting on her soul was just collecting on another debt, hardly a personal matter. .

 _This is getting me nowhere and is almost as frustrating as just waiting for Serenity to be done with Dracula._ Lyrius bit back a sigh and stood up, shaking out his hair by running a tired hand through it. There was nothing he could do right now, but wait. And as much as he was invested with a great deal of patience, it was being sorely tested. Everything that was happening right now kept tracking back to him in someway- _Oblivion,_ Andy and Fran, Solex, the Reaping Trees, the false Shadow Queen. _Yet I am just groping at the dark, blind and only able to react as things change. And putting those around me in danger each time they do._

He swept up Solex's abandoned coffee cup and his own, depositing the former into the sink and pouring a new one for him. The pleasant, mild armor was comforting even if he found the taste a bit much for his liking. Neither did much to soothe his thoughts nor did starting out at the glittering landscape of Las Vegas at night. _I feel as if I am caught in a spider's web, struggling, fighting. But only entangling myself further. Then, when I am exhausted, the spider will come in for the kill._

"A feeling that I am quite used to seeing in others, particularly when my mother is involved." The light, strong tones came from behind him and he knew instantly who they belonged to.

"Eilistraee." He turned, unsurprised to find the drow goddess sitting in the couch he had just vacated. Against the off-white decor of the room and the earth-toned furniture, she stuck out like a sore thumb with her silvery hair and dark skin. Yet, as always, she looked as if she always belonged, as if the universe itself was better just by her mere presence.

"You are looking well, Lyrius." She smiled at him, starry eyes so full of light and life and knowledge that they surpassed the entirety of the cityscape behind him.

"Looking well and feeling well are two different things. Why are you here?"

"For the same reason I always am. For you."

He opened his mouth to fire off the usual retort of 'here he was, could you go now' and then stopped himself short. Instead, he set his cup down on the counter. Feeling Eilistraee's piercing, curious gaze on his back, Lyrius opened the cupboard and grabbed a large, sturdy mug. Filling it with the coffee, he placed it on a saucer before sticking three sugar cubes and two small containers of creamer on the side.

Retrieving his own mug, he moved over to where she sat, placed the mug down in front of her and sat opposite to her.

It was a curious - and amusing thing - to see a deity look confused. She regarded the mug with an expression not unlike a cat seeing its reflection for the first time before pointing a long finger at it in mute question.

Lyrius shrugged. "I do not know how you take your coffee, Eilistraee. So I provided everything."

Her eyes flashed at the apparent disrespect in his casual tone and he felt the air stir with power for a heartbeat. Then her black cherry lips twitched, quivered and split into a true smile before she began to laugh. The noise was the quiet peal of silver bells, clear and uplifting and the room - despite having no illumination on - brightened for a brief moment.

When she finished, the goddess reached out to pluck the sugarcubes off of the saucer. She crushed them between her fingers and poured the powder into the coffee. A twirl of her finger left the coffee itself swirling together. "Why the sudden change in attitude?"

"You are persistent in these appearances. And in light of recent events, I know you are not solely doing it just because you want to be my friend. I need allies and it is the height of foolish to ignore the one who has been waiting for me to welcome her." Lyrius said as he took a drink. "And few better allies than a goddess."

There was a knowing light in her eyes. "And your current loneliness, fears and trepidations have nothing to do with you seeking out like company?"

"Perhaps." Lyrius allowed. "You yourself are troubled, for the frequency of your visits has increased and each time, you seem as if you to try and recruit me yet hold yourself back for fear of offending me. Or the memory of my daughter."

"So you offer a deity coffee."

"I am not prone to worship nor fear and respect create too much distance, so I thought I might try and learn to call you 'friend' so that you might one day do the same," Lyrius said. "Sharing a drink is all that I could think of to do that would be enjoyable and engaging for the two of us."

"As I have heard it said, sex is an enjoyable activity." The goddess said with a smile that was actually a laviscious smirk dressed bald. "Would you like to engage in that?"

Lyrius nearly dropped his cup, staring at her. Then, for the first time since he could recall in a long while, he laughed.

TTTTTT

Andy was unhappy.

Laying back against the bed, he spun his phone around in his hand, begging it to ring. He had used up all of his minutes the previous night, and he was determined not to leave the hotel room until Fran reappeared. It was not a bad room to be in - on the higher end of their usual range of places to crash. Which meant that it was clean and had no bugs. He had thought that it would be a nice treat.

Now if only he were in the mood to enjoy it.

He was used to curveballs - twas the nature of his job. Plan A was so often rendered useless that there was often no point in coming up with it in the first place. Plan B should always be the go-to plan in life. So he could roll with not apprehending Joka. There would be plenty more opportunities and plenty more plans.

But as soon as he had arrived in Vegas, another curveball had been thrown his way. And unlike Joka, he had no plans for this one because it was simply unprecedented.

Fran was not answering her phone.

In itself not unusual - when they were on high risk cases, particularly infiltration, they rarely answered their phones. It was just common sense. And at first he had assumed that to be the case - she had admitted earlier that day that she had not canvassed the auction yet, and he expected that she was probably making up for her earlier laziness.

But the hours had dragged on and he had started to worry. Canvassing a location should not be taking this long, which probably meant that something had gone wrong. His mind had filled instantly with images of her captured, beaten and desperately needing his help. He would have charged straight off had he not had the faintest clue where she was. He had been five minutes away from calling his boss for help, when finally the line had picked up, and made his night far more confusing.

Fran was gambling? Drinking? Partying? It did not make any sense. They were working. They had a job to do. People were counting on them to keep society safe. She knew that. So why was she choosing to spend her time throwing money away and hanging out with strangers? It perplexed him and made him more unhappy than before. He and Fran had been together for five years now - she should not be able to surprise him like this.

For a moment, he considered the idea that it might have been his fault in some way. They had recently just swept through a small back-log of cases over the last month and had nary a chance to relax and unwind. He'd been adamant about this case, too - recovering the sword of the Queen's Shadow would had put a huge part of his mind at ease. But Fran had never viewed the events of the tournament like he had and it wouldn't have been surprising if she'd bucked responsibility to have some fun just because he was riding her so hard.

He was halfway through resolving to splurge on a nice trip somewhere quiet for them both and drawing up plans about wining and dining her as well when the door opened to admit a blearly, staggering Fran. The look on her face when she caught sight of him made a stone settle in the pit of his stomach and Andy decided that last night had indeed been trouble for her.

He hated being right like this.

"There you are!" The relief burst out before he could stop it. "Where have you been?"

Wincing, Fran pressed her fingers into her left temple. "Dear God, Andy. Can you whisper, please?" She closed the door behind her like she was afraid of disturbing it, and took the two steps that she needed to flop onto the bed with heavy reluctance.

"Sorry, sorry." He only made it to a half-whisper, though. Mind already whirling with possibilities and what needed to be done, Andy grabbed a glass and began to fill it with water. A hungover Fran needed water like a fish did.

And maybe an aspirin or two, given how piteous those pained moans into the pillow where. "What happened last night?"

"I had a tea party - what do you think happened last night? Vegas happened!" came the surly growl from beneath the pillow. Unwilling to disturb the beast, Andy pressed the glass into her limp hand and backed away.

"I meant, what did you get up to?" he tried to remain patient. _What were you doing that was more important than our case? What was so fun that you had to blow me off like that?_

"God - I gambled, made a new friend, drunk a lot of cocktails, and then passed out in my friend's hotel room! What do you want - blow by blow details?" He was starting to get a sense of just where Fran's hangover was - painful, but not so bad that it curtailed the worst of her temper. This was not new to him - she had had plenty of these since her twenty-first birthday. He had been meaning to talk to her about it, actually. _There are better options to coping with this life than the drinking. Maybe Solex has some ideas. Doesn't he do origami?_

But that was for later. He discreetly grabbed two aspirin and seated himself on the far edge of the bed near her head. When she lifted her head to glower, he presented the pills. With a grumpy noise of reluctant agreement, Fran sat up and accepted them. "I don't need the minutes to read, no. But an overview would be nice. Did you at least get a look at the auction house?"

He didn't need to be sitting close to see the way her jaw locked into tense irritation that had nothing to do with her hangover. "No." She swallowed pills and water in quick succession.

Andy sighed - he had expected that, but it was far from ideal. "Okay. Leave it to me today. I'll go case it out this morning while you recover. Then this afternoon we can make plans to break in - I still think tonight if we can, before security gets stepped up."

"Hooray," came the sarcastic grunt, as she flopped back against the pillow.

"Careful with that cheer, it might infect me, too." He shot back with a grin and rose, hunting for where his cell disappeared. "Did you at least touch base with Solex?"

"I don't know - was he working at the bar or the strip club last night?" Fran's reply was mumbled, but Andy still caught it, and fresh discomfort rolled through him.

"...you went to a strip club?" the words did not feel right in his mouth.

"Yes, a strip club." Fran repeating it back did not help it make any more sense.

"You _hate_ strip clubs. Didn't you tell me they were shameful exploitation of women?"

"No, _you_ said that, and I grunted in agreement because I wanted you to shut up and let me eat my lunch in peace." Fran corrected.

"Also didn't think you were into women."

"' 'm not, doofus. It was a male strip club."

"Right, so it's shamefully exploitative of men instead." Andy couldn't help but crack a grin at the disaffected grunt of agreement he got from her. "So who were these magical friends who dragged you off to a den of sin against your principles and sense? I mean, I bet AT&T operators don't get out much, but pretty sure it's a big leap from 'bored out of my mind' to 'let's see random men's junk!' "

"Christ, don't you ever stop talking?" ripping the pillow off her face, Fran's sudden fit of rage took Andy by surprise. "It was Lyrius, okay, Andy? I was out having drinks with Lyrius Stormcloud and his new wife Serenity."

Andy paled as a dozen memories came rushing through his head like a stampede of directionally-challenged buffalo. His brutal duel with Iris, the crippling fear as he realized he lost, the pain of his imprisonment and clawing fear as he realized Stan and Fran were fighting for their lives because of his weaknesses.

And those eyes. Lyrius had visited him and even as a ghost, the man was more real than Andy himself was. Eyes as black as pitch, stained with blood and sin and devotion to the madwoman upstairs. Eyes a man who would do anything would have.

"He's still alive…" Andy didn't realize he'd sank back onto the bed until he nearly slipped off it; the bedside table lamp suffered and went crashing to the floor, but he didn't notice. " And he's _here_ …"

"Yes, I just said that." For what felt like the hundredth time, Fran flopped back against the bed and pressed the pillow against her face. "So now you're up to date, get off my back already, and let me suffer in silence."

"How can you be so calm about this?" Andy looked at her like he didn't recognize her; maybe he didn't. It was not like his Fran to be so blase about a threat to their lives. "He had to have recognized you. And I'm pretty sure he's not going to forgive us for murdering his wife!"

"Well he seemed pretty chilled about the whole thing last night," Fran said, from inside the sanctuary of her pillow.

"This is bad, Fran!" It was getting very hard not to get worked up, as plans of action and contingencies started falling into Andy's head to account for this new, potentially lethal complication. "He's probably here for the auction! He must want his sword back!" he got up, drawing back the curtains - dawn was starting to creep into existence, bringing fresh light into the room. "We need to find out where he is now and stop him!"

"Jesus, what part of me flopping on the bed and smothering myself with a pillow are you not getting?!" sitting up once more, Fran scowled at him. "I'm not going anywhere, Andy and neither are you! Lyrius was no threat last night, and I highly doubt he's a threat now, so just leave them both alone!"

"Alone? The Shadow Queen spent _decades_ planning her escape and watching all three of us for her plan! I doubt all of that disappeared! And what's this about a new 'wife'?" Andy demanded. "Given the Shadow Queen's go-to tactic was 'brainwash someone and hope it works out', how do we know he hasn't done the same to her? She could be a victim! Or worse, an accomplice!"

"Serenity wouldn't do that! She's great!" There was a finality to her voice that only made him more anxious. She hadn't even spent twenty hours with this woman and yet she was vouching for her with a wholehearted loyalty that made him nervous.

"Fran." Even though her haze, she must have heard the seriousness in his voice because her eyes cleared a bit as she focused. "You need to tell me _everything_ you did last night."

"So you can tell me everything I did was wrong?" she spat furiously. "That I was crazy to go out and dare to have a good time?"

"You never should have gone with them. We've been targeted by people out for revenge for the Shadow Queen before and at the top of that list would be her husband!" Andy insisted. "You don't have good times with people related to people who tried to murder you!"

"Why? Because they might actually turn out to be nice people? Because they don't fit into your black and white idea of good and evil?" She gave him a poisonous look. "Or just because I chose to have a good time with them and not you?"

He gaped at her. "Do you _hear_ yourself? Do you even realize the kind of risk you put yourself at? Solex and I had no idea where you were! They could have sold your soul to Graz'zt or spirited you halfway across the country by now!"

"But they didn't!" she had risen to her knees and was shouting right into his face now. "Instead Serenity taught me how to gamble! She gave me a fun night. She _talked_ to me! Do you have any idea how long it's been since I had someone to talk to like that? And Lyrius - he didn't hurt me, or kidnap me, or try to sell me to some demon lord. He came with us to the strip club, had a _lot_ of whisky shooters with his beers, and laughed at some of the acts!" She paused. "...I think. He might have been throwing up. I don't remember. That's not the point! The point is, I had fun with them! Does that sound like a pair of people who pose a threat to the world?"

"They...you really don't..." Andy buried his face in his palms. "Do the words 'deceiving you' mean anything?"

"And why would they do that?"

"Because they want revenge!"

"You don't know that!"

"You don't know I'm wrong, either!"

Their mutual glares were interrupted as there was a rhythmic, jaunty knocking on the doorframe. Both of their heads snapped around to see Solex leaning against it, fist still outstretched to knock again. Seeing he had their attention, he grinned. "Hey, kids. Looks like you went and made some adult mistakes last night. So proud of you."

"One of us did…" Andy muttered darkly and winced when Fran slapped the back of his head with a pillow.

"You, too, dragon master." Solex wasn't phased by Andy's glower. "You didn't call me to tell me Fran was 'missing' or that you were in town or anything at all. You stayed home and worried like a mother hen."

Andy flushed a little in embarrassment, but he wasn't going to admit verbally that Fran's dismissal of him had consumed his night. _I'm not a teenager anymore! I shouldn't be mooning over her like that!_

"Anyway, it's time to pay the piper. _Oblivion_ is no longer at the auction and in the hands of a madman. So we're going to need help from an old colleague of mine." Solex continued, watching Andy carefully with his next words. "Lyrius Stormcloud."

Andy's jaw dropped open and Fran gave a long groan of resigned pain. "What the-"

"Lemme ask you something before you launch into another diatribe, Andy or you die of embarrassment, Fran." Solex cut them off. "Do either of you actually _know_ him? At all? Or are you just labeling him guilty and evil by association to the Shadow Queen?"

When they didn't answer, he held up a finger. "I worked with that man for nearly a year and a half. He saved my life more times than I can count and saved innocent lives even more than that. He doesn't want revenge, he doesn't want to hurt you and he's not holding you responsible for his wife's death. But he _can_ help us track down that his sword and get it off the streets."

"Why would he do that?" Andy demanded.

"He wants to because it was his carelessness that resulted it winding up lost in the first place and one of his best friends suffered badly tonight because of it. And if that man is _anything_ , he's the kind of man never to let a mistake go uncorrected." Solex shrugged. "Of course, you two can just stay here, arguing like a bad soap opera and _not_ earn your paychecks."

Andy fumed, but glanced back at Fran. Despite her defenses of Lyrius earlier, she really didn't look that much happier to be seeing him than Andy did at the moment.

"You're only paid up through last night and check-out here is at 10a.m." Solex prompted.

Andy sighed and nodded. "You're a bit of a bastard, you know that?"

"Keeps my life interesting." Solex rubbed his hands together briskly. "Now who's ready to go out, meet the last person we want to see and work together to stop a fervent religious nutcase with a god-slaying sword?"

Fran responded to the challenge by vomiting into the wastebasket.

TTTTTTT

"Why do you still have a vested interest in my daughter?" Lyrius asked. He and Eiliastraee were both on their second cups of coffee. Well, he was drinking his. Eilistraee, perhaps because of being a goddess or perhaps she was the kind of being who took meticulous care in all things, somehow transformed the simple act of drinking coffee into a religious experience - there was nothing about how she raised the cup or opened her lips or even swallowed that was not inspiring or divine.

 _It could because she is drinking coffee._ He mused. _I have long wondered why Starbucks just does not simply apply to be a church. Especially during pumpkin spice season._

Her lips quirked in that perfect half-smile that lit her eyes and he frowned a bit as he realized that she might be (pardoning the pun) divining his thoughts. But if she was, she chose not to comment on her potential latte-flavored competition and answered his question. "Lyrissa was my high priestess. The loss of my most powerful and favored acolyte is not I would simply just accept."

"She was only your high priestess for three years and has been missing for centuries."

"I would not forget even after ten thousand years. Did your wife's experiences teaching you nothing about those like me?" The goddess asked with a gentle chide to her tone. "Demons, devils or deities, our memories are long and our grudges even longer."

"Truth." Lyrius agreed quietly, staring into his coffee as he drummed his fingers along the mug. "But why do you care about me in the here and now?"

"Lyrissa loved you and her mother deeply. One of her most constant prayers was for both of your safeties and happiness."

"But being as Iris had already bound her soul to Graz'zt, I was the only one you could watch out for without waging an open war for an Abyssal Lord's proxy." Lyrius said as she nodded. "But that only answers half of my question. I was a ghost for many centuries, yet you never visited me during that time. You could have bargained to restore my life for servitude or freedom for Iris. I would have bent the knee for such things."

"My worshippers in this world are few and my powers limited because of it. The loss of Lyrissa was a grievous blow. And even when I wished to reach to you, Graz'zt's dark power still pervaded the Palace." Those eyes shone with gentle sorrow. "And too often, deities gain believers because they are desperately in need. I could not bear to break Lyrissa's heart by demanding your servitude in such a way."

"Then do you know who took Lyrissa? And why? Where did they take her to? All that Iris and I attempted gave us nothing."

"Even the gods cannot possess all answers, Lyrius. My efforts into finding the solutions to those problems were as fruitless as yours."

He had expected as much - Eiliastraee would have told him outright if she knew when she first appeared to him years ago, if only to convince him of her sincerity. "Then why me now? Why during my service to St. Cuthbert? Why persist after I abandoned my post when surely that must earn you enmity of he and Dominel and others?"

"I am the goddess of the drow, I am well used to enmity from all corners." She lowered her mug, gazing at him with raw affection and care in every line of her face while her eyes shone deeply. "And all who are lost and unable to find their way in the dark may reach out to me for help and caring. They need not be afraid alone."

Lyrius remained staring at his coffee as his hands tightened around it so hard the porcelain protested - looking into her face like that made him feel like he'd never be lonely again and he could leave his pain behind. And he wasn't sure if he was ready to yet. And that it felt like a betrayal to both his wife and daughter if he simply let someone else overshadow their place in his heart.

Again, there was the feeling she was touching his mind as she reached out. Despite her obsidian skin, her hands were warm as they engulfed his. And he lifted his head to stare into those all-encompassing eyes above that tender smile and framed by hair of frosted silver. When he had met her gaze, she spoke. "Grieve how your heart tells you must, Lyrius Stormcloud. No goddess may heal that wound. If and when you feel you need to, you may ask for my help and I shall provide."

She was telling the truth - he could feel that in his soul. If he wanted bundle that hair to him and weep into it, she would let him. If he wanted to rage and scream and lash out at the world, she would stand and listen to every word. If he felt weak and less than he was and wanted only to lose pains of the heart in the pleasures of the flesh, she would tend to those base needs with that divine body and whisper the sweet nothings that he craved in the quiet hours to him.

His heart trembled and Lyrius swallowed. But he willed himself not to break her gaze. "Thank you for your kindness, Eiliastraee. But you have still only answered half of my question. I know why me, but why now?"

She was silent, eyes boring into his soul and he had to wonder if she felt disappointed at his purposeful avoidance of his pain. But her smile spread those black cherry lips and she leaned back, though her hands still remained on his. "That matter, Lyrius, is -"

The truth would have to wait, as the door was solidly kicked open, and Andy Markova stormed across the room in the blink of an eye, landing a solid punch in Lyrius's uncomprehending face. The Queen's Shadow crashed back into the armchair, dazed and hurt as a tender moment of compassion turned into a throbbing ache in the side of his face. Beyond Andy's tense frame looming over him, he was vaguely aware of Fran standing meekly in the doorway, weary and clutching a wastepaper basket under one arm. By her side, Solex stood blinking, his mouth open, one hand raised as though to make a point.

"...or indeed, you could just kick the door open and punch him in the face." The elf finished, with a hint of tetchiness. "That is a valid if somewhat immature option too."

Lyrius glanced between Andy and Solex before giving the elf a dark look. "You forget to tell me it's _my_ sword you're looking for, then you forget to tell me it's my former enemies that are your proteges. Are you going to tell me you forgot to mention you worship my guest, too?"

Solex frowned at him, opened his mouth to respond and promptly snapped it shut as his eyes widened at the sight of the goddess on the couch. Fran caught sight of her as well, the breath leaving her as her own eyes widened...or that may have been the sudden unexpectedness of her next round of vomiting.

Andy, however, didn't seem to notice any of it. "There's nothing 'former' about us being enemies, you pyscho-bitch loving piece of slime!"

"Language!" Solex admonished, his eyes darting between Andy and Eiliastraee as though half expecting the goddess to smite him where he stood. Fran emerged from the bin long enough to shoulder past her employer and glare at her boyfriend again.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" she demanded. "We came here to fix shit - not make it worse!"

Lyrius had to admire her - she looked remarkably formidable for someone clutching a bin full of their own vomit.

"I'm not making it worse, I'm just making sure we're clear on where he stands!" Andy fired back, jabbing a finger down at Lyrius like it was a spear. "If he had kept his hands on his weapon, we would haven't spent six months chasing it around the goddamn country via trail of dead, innocent people!"

"You are not wrong, Mister Markova." Lyrius said as he got to his feet. "But seeing as I do not have the sword and have no way to track it, venting your anger on me smacks of childish frustration."

"I'll smack you as many times as I want for that hell your wife put us through!" Andy hissed, clenching his fist again. "Solex says your not as bad as she is, but the fact you just stood there while she did all of it means you're just as guilty!"

"Andy, Andy, please don't make things worse." Solex caught his wrist before the younger man could throw a punch. "Why don't we leave the judging and the punishing to the actual deity in the room?"

"What are you talking about?" Andy turned to follow Solex's nod and it was amazing how slack his face went while his eyes bulged. The divine always had an effect on anyone, believer or not, as their mortal presence simply a pale imitation of what they truly were. And even that 'imitation' was a grandiose masterpiece compared to anything a mortal could do. Even Solex, with his quick recovery, seemed to be struggling not to be overwhelmed and fall to his knees in awe.

"Why don't we all just have a seat and calm down?" tearing his eyes off Eiliastraee long enough to break the spell, the elf steered an unresisting Andy into the sofa. "Preferably before anyone does anything else that they may regret?"

Rubbing his cheek, Lyrius straightened himself up in his chair, struggling not to take a little delight in how starstruck Andy had become. Fran pointedly parked herself on the opposite end of the couch as far away from her boyfriend as she could. Seeing that his only options now were to sit between the feuding couple, sit on Lyrius's lap, or pluck up enough courage to share Eiliastraee's loveseat, Solex sheepishly chose the safer option of sitting on the floor. He regretted this as Fran bent over to dry heave a few more times.

"Sorry," she managed a faint apology.

"That's what you get for going out drinking with him," Andy finally broke out of his astonishment long enough to admonish her.

"Really? So what's your divine punishment going to be for having that stick lodged up your ass?" Fran bit out, before retreating back to the basket to heave again.

She lifted her head to find the goddess staring directly at her, nausea rioting as Fran felt dwarfed and subsumed by the goddess' radiance as it swelled to fill the entire room. Then the goddess was suddenly more approachable and kind, the massive presence gone. "Is that better, child?"

To Fran's surprise, it was. She no longer felt nauseated. Or hungover. Or even tired. "Um, yes. Thank you…" She trailed off, realizing she had no idea who this being was and the very idea of meeting her eyes to ask her name felt blasphemous.

"You are welcome." The goddess informed her, cocking her head in a fuming Andy's direction. "My divinity cannot remove your obstruction to civility, however. My apologies."

It took everything Lyrius had not to laugh. Looking at the mortified expression on Solex's face was not helping as Eiliastraee returned to her sofa.

"Solex, why are you here with them?" Lyrius gestured to the intruders. "I wasn't aware calling your contacts meant 'bring them to the one person they have every reason to hate and see what happens'."

"Well, no, because I wasn't _that_ bored." Solex grinned as Lyrius rolled his eyes. "I brought them here because I've got a couple of leads on Gospel. I don't know how he survived Dracula crushing his heart like a balloon-"

"Wait, Dracula is involved?!" Fran gawked. "What?!"

"-but he did. And rumor is he's trying to skip town- a couple of wheelmen were found dead in their cars shortly after refusing to give him a lift."

Lyrius shook his head. "Vegas is too big, too many people. He will have already left before we can even locate him or the sword."

"Yeah, but you can sense the thing, can't you? Track its location with your mind?" Solex's hopeful grin faded as Lyrius shook his head again. "What's the matter, old man? Getting senile?"

"No. The sword and I are no longer attuned to one another. Without that connection, no one can utilize all of its abilities. If I still had it, I could just will the weapon to return to my hand."

"I will help you track the blade." Eiliastraee's voice drew everyone's attention to her, though whether because there was command in it or it was unearthly beautiful, it was hard to tell. But her gaze was centered on Lyrius. "I can sense its powers are still in the city and can direct you to _Oblivion_."

"You would go directly with us?" Lyrius was beside himself with surprise. Of course, in his case, this meant allowing one eyebrow to creep slightly higher than the other. He didn't want to risk breaking his face, after all - he had a reputation.

"If it so pleases my new friend, then I shall," Eiliastraee said with a genuine smile.

"Excuse you and the whole room, but who are you and why are you inviting yourself on our mission?" Andy asked. He was giving Eiliastraee a suspicious look, but given how tightly his arms were folded, it was probably due to how outclassed he felt.

Lyrius decided not to hide his smile as Solex just looked very pained and buried his face in both hands while Fran looked like she wanted to stuff Andy into the wastebasket, vomit be damned.

"I am the goddess Eiliastraee, guardian of the drow and shepherd of the wayward, the lost and the forsaken." She said with a gentle smile in Andy's direction. "And I am not your enemy nor a threat, Mister Markova. Your pride is safe from me."

"A drow...goddess that doesn't involve spiders." Andy said slowly, then let out an 'eep!' as Solex slung his arm around his shoulder and yanked him close.

"Do not question the goddess about who she is, what she does or why she does it. Not unless you have a very fervent desire to be smote." Solex hissed warningly at him. "You just accept the fact she wants to help and be very grateful she does!"

"I can hear you, Mister Delamare." Eiliastraee lifted a finger and the two men let out unmanly noises of surprise as they were forcibly straightened into perfect sitting posture, hands in their laps. "And to answer your questions, asked and unasked alike, I involve myself because Lyrius and I possess much history together."

Lyrius was certain that he gave nothing away and thus was surprised when Fran's eyes scrutinized him and then the drow goddess. "...ancient, modern or sexual?" she asked flatly.

Lyrius's efforts to keep a straight face finally failed, and he felt his cheeks flame. Eiliastraee for her part, merely smiled. "...yes."

There was something sinister in Fran's growing smile of comprehension, the smile that made him feel that he should move heaven and hell to prevent the blonde from sharing her new knowledge with Serenity. Or he'd never hear the end of it. With that in mind, he moved the conversation along. "Please do not come with us, Eiliastraee. If you say another force is trying to intervene in my life or manipulate it, your direct involvement could severely complicate matters."

He cast a quick look over the trio of companions he had, Fran glaring at Andy, Andy glaring daggers at him and Solex looking torn between embracing the scene or curling up into a ball. "And I may need someone to pray over my grave tonight if things go awry…"

"Of course." Holding out one of her hands, Eiliastraee closed her fingers. Light shone from between them and she unfolded them like a flower in bloom. Lifting from her palm was a large, delicately-built moth that was shining with gentle light. "This moonmoth can guide you where I cannot. Even if the sword leaves this plane of existence."

"Let us hope it does not come to that." Solex said as he stood. "We do not need another deal like with that magical teapot. Had enough _Alice in Wonderland_ for two lifetimes."

"Agreed." Lyrius said, watching as the moth floated over to the door and hovered patiently for them. "Let us go, then. And hurry. Others will be tracking the sword as we are."

"And who do you think could be doing that?" Solex asked as Fran and Andy filed in behind them.

"My current list of enemies is a powerful lich, a mutated Orichalcos-powered vampire and Weevil Underwood."

Solex blinked. "Well, with that last name, it's certainly proof that you've fallen a bit low, haven't you?"

TTTTTT

Weevil sneezed violently, grimacing as he jostled the table and sent his drink toppling over. "Oh, c'mon! I just opened that!"

Fushioh looked up from his dueling deck. "Weevil, please. Don't ruin the carpet. Do you have any idea how lucky we were to get this room? The Penthouse and the two adjoining suites were already taken when we checked in."

TTTTTT

 _A/N: __Once again, sorry for the long wait! I hope it lives up to expectations and helps you kick off your New Year right!_

 _Next chapter, as our ragtag band of heroes and villains hunt for the sword, they'll find it a harder prize to catch than they realized. For Eiliastraee is not the only deity with a vested interest in Oblivion's whereabouts. And Sin City is not without its own dangers…_

 _Next Chapter- Las Vegas: Snake Eyes!_


	21. Vegas: Snake Eyes

Kintsugi  
By 7th Librarian

Chapter 21: Vegas: Snake Eyes

"We've been here for days!" Weevil, legs kicked up on the hotel room coffee table, grunted in annoyance as he surfed through the channels. "What's the point of Vegas if we just bore ourselves to death staying here?"

"Collecting information takes time, bug, and we're trying to keep a low profile." Castiel, seated on the opposing end of the couch, didn't look up from the binder he was paging through with meticulous, almost reverent care. "With both Dracula and Lyrius in town, both of us are too recognizable to just meander."

Weevil snorted. "So we sent the lich who is a walking skeleton, out on the food run!"

"He has that magical disguise ring."

"So why not let us take turns using it?"

"You mean besides the fact it's replacing his knuckle and taking it off would mean giving us his finger, to?" Castiel smirked at Weevil's sour face at the thought. "It's because Fushioh is the only one that ring it attuned to."

Weevil frowned. "Whaddya mean?"

"Attunement to magical items is like a key to a car - you need it to get the item to do whatever it's supposed to do. If he gave us that ring, all it would be to us is a piece of jewelry until we attuned to it."

Weevil gave the vampire a skeptical look. "That can't be true all the time. I've used stuff like the Orichalcos just by playing a card." He held up the Millenium Star from where it dangled around his neck. "And all I did was put this on to use its magic stuff."

"Both are cars with no locks on them, true. But while everyone can drive a car, you need to have a superior, working knowledge of how a car functions to get the best results. And so you can improve it." Castiel nodded dangling piece of gold in Weevil's hand. "Don't go thinking magical blasts and rough mind control are all that thing can do. You've barely scratched the surface."

"Huh." The bug duelist considered this, staring at the rotating Star with a curious expression. "How do I know I'm attuned to this thing?"

"The fact it hasn't cast a Penalty Game on you is a good sign." The vampire said in a dry tone, only giving the other man a shrug when he got a glare from Weevil. "To be honest, I do not know if you're attuned or not. The only way is to experiment, feel things out. Be creative."

"Fat lot of help you are, bloodsucker. Maybe I should use this on you and get a goddamn straight answer." Weevil let the Star drop from his hand in annoyance when he realized the vampire favored returning single good eye to the binder he was looking through instead of rising to the bait. "What're you looking at? You're staring at that thing like you found God in it!"

"These are cards, Weevil, and they are some of my magical items." Castiel turned a page, sliding his fingers down the new one in a little caress. "And I'm attuned to them all."

"What? That's nuts!" Weevil couldn't help himself - now that he had a better look, he could see the binder was full of Duel Monsters cards on both front and backs of the pages. The entire thing had to be at least ten inches thick when shut. "That's got to be at least a thousand cards in there!"

"A little over,." Castiel confirmed, a note of pleased pride entering his voice. "They're the result of decades of hard work."

"Doing what?"

Instead of answering, Castiel just lifted his head with a little smirk and Weevil gawked as a page's worth of cards slid themselves free to float around Castiel's head in a ring. They revolved as they did so, revealing a twisted, pained face trapped underneath a very familiar teal seal on each one.

"Cripes." Weevil breathed, eyes widening behind his glasses as Castiel twitched a finger and the cards jumped and loop themselves into new locations on the ring as it spun. He knew Dartz had collected perhaps millions of souls, but all you'd ever seen of those was the stone carvings on the walls. But this was something else. "I didn't know you could do that."

"I've spent much of my time expanding on what the Orichcalcos can do and exploiting it with my innate vampire gifts. All of these souls are attuned to my own and so I can manipulate the cards with just my will alone. Not only do they move…" Castiel pulled an orange from the bowl on the coffee table and tossed it into the air before flicking with his fingers. One card launched at the falling orange so fast that Weevil flinched and Castiel held out his hand.

Into it fell the orange, sliced clean in two. "But they can be both weapon and shield."

Weevil couldn't help but be impressed. "What else can do you with Orichalcos?"

"If you're that curious, you can find out firsthand." Castiel smiled, the exposed, blackened bones of his skull giving the happy expression a macabre flavor.

Weevil suppressed an urge to shudder. Castiel's good blue eye was intense enough, but the empty eye socket on the other half was malevolent and dark, a void from which no light escaped. "No thanks. I've had enough of that soul-sucking pop rock for one lifetime."

"As you like." Castiel shrugged, the cards returning themselves to their sleeves as the door to the hotel room swung open. "Ah, you're back, Fushioh. I hope you have breakfast."

"Better!" The generic-looking human in the door rippled as he stepped inside, the magic falling away to reveal the etched bones of the lich. He lifted his hands to reveal two bulging plastic bags in each one. "I got good news!"

Weevil was about to ask where from when Fushioh moved to the table and upended the bags, sending nuts, bolts, screws, circuitry and more scattering over the wood surface. He gave one bag a final shake and with an angry 'Ow!', a metallic skull thudded atop the pile.

"...you got spare parts?" Castiel enquired curiously, before reaching out and poking the metal skull with a finger. "No, no, I take it back, you're Hamlet in the next run of plays on stage and you need me to help with the Poor Yorick speech."

Weevil, whose education had failed him after he had learned to add up life points, looked thoroughly bemused. "Screw you, bones! You said you were bringing back pancakes!"

"I did?" Fushioh cocked his head.

"Yes! That's why you went out!"

"Did I?" The lich cocked his head back at Castiel, was poking at the metal skull still and gave Fushioh an absent nod. "Well, I apologize. I haven't eaten in ages, I forget that food shopping is actually a _thing._ "

"Will you stop poking me, asshole?" The skull ground out, the voice like a fix a static radio by shoving it into a rusty blender. "Or I swear I'm gonna bite your fingers off!"

"Sure you will." Now bored, Castiel finger-flicked the skull on the forehead and grinned as with as static squawk, it went rolling off the pile of parts, thudded on the floor and rolled into the refrigerator. "Right. That's all the fun I'm going to get out of this mess. Fushioh, what is this and why don't we have food?"

"This, Castiel, is Joka. He's an early experiment of mine from my diesel-punk phase. Flesh to steel, of a kind. I set him loose on the world when I finished him to wreak havoc." Fushioh said with a theatrical gesture.

"You stuck me in a corner and forgot I was there until you had to unplug me to make room for that new lamp, asshole!" came the reply from inside the fridge.

"Well, the shade really clashed with your dark metal grunge look - I _don't_ know what I was thinking with that aesthetic. I mean, if I was going to do the whole Darth Vader thing, I should have played it up to the hilt! Cape, seven feet tall, dark voice! But no, I had to do the whole 'in my own image' thing!" Fushioh sighed. "So I got armored Skeletor, and he doesn't even have the camp factor to make him endearingly evil!"

"I'm not camp, ass, I like women!" Joka paused. "Or at least, I think I do since someone didn't bother to install any good parts!"

"I see he lacks the intelligence factor, too." Castiel took pity on the metal construct and soccer-ball kicked the head into his hand before setting him upright. "What on earth did you expect to use him for if he's like this? Anger often leads to a quick and stupid end. And he's a hideous looking-paperweight."

"I swear, the moment I have parts I can move, I will take that attitude and shove it up your ass!"

"I had no idea, to be honest. Since he left, he's become an assassin-for-hire, though of the 'pray and spray' type for taking out his targets. He's absolute murder on office furniture." Fushioh rattled out a bony, speculative sigh. "Though I will admit he's endearing in a tenacious way. He's survived more than a dozen cockroaches."

"Hey." Weevil had joined them at the table, jabbing a finger at Fushioh and then at Joka's head. "Focus, will ya? Why is he _here_? Have your soap opera feelings later!"

"Ah, yes, yes, yes." Fushioh clapped his hands together, an ugly grinding noise emitting from them as he rubbed them together eagerly. "Joka here recently got hired to retrieve a very rare sword named ' _Oblivion'_ and it just so happens to be here in Vegas!"

Weevil frowned, his eyes darting up and down Fushioh, taking in the way he was bouncing on the balls of his skeletal feet. "Since when do you collect swords?...hell, since when do you collect _anything?_ "

Fushioh either did not notice Weevil's condescending tone, or had too much hype to care. "I collect anything that represents a pinnacle of human potential. And I assure you, this sword is _very_ potent."

Blinking at him in a calculating fashion, Castiel sighed. "Let me guess. You want to go get it?"

Fushioh nodded so hard and so fast his skull threatened to bobble right off his spine.

"Couldn't you just collect stamps instead?" Weevil threw himself back into the sofa, resigned to the fact that nobody was going to feed him.

"Well, I suppose it beats killing time here. And getting out the room would be nice." Castiel mused. "But what about our mysterious employer, Falgar, and our current job?"

"Oh, I already cleared it with him. He's cool."

"Nothing about this is cool!" Pulling the TV remote out from between the couch cushions, Weevil went back to channel surfing. "I'm not wasting my time on your sad little hobby."

It shouldn't have been possible, but Fushioh's skull seemed to droop, giving the unsettling impression of a kicked puppy.

"...there's an IHOP next door," Castiel took pity on the lich and yanked the remote away from Weevil. "So either you grab take out pancakes and come with us like a good little boy, or we'll freeze the credit card on this room and lock you in here with no room service and no porn channels."

"Argh! What are you - my mother?" Weevil was furious, but he knew he was beaten and so he folded his arms and gave a scoff of disgust. "Ugh, fine! Where do we start? Does this tin can know where the sword is?"

"Last I heard it, some tournament organizer named Hurst stole the thing from a crime boss. Then he got eighty-sixed by a serial killer and he's running around Vegas with it, trying to get out of town." Joka said, eyes flashing. "And call me a tin can again, shrimp!"

"Whatever. You're about as pretty and as threatening a spork."

Castiel ignored Weevil's sniggering as Joka's voice box tried to squeal in frustration, but came across as the sound of a hamster wheel at full throttle. "So what's our game plan?"

"I've already got word out to my contacts and they've given me some interesting tidbits. The current owner of the sword can't seem to get a ride out-of-town thanks to organized crime controlling the wheelman," Fushioh's empty eyes seemed to glow with anticipation. "But they passed along that there's an unmarked, single-prop plane being fueled and assigned a runway at North Las Vegas Airport despite not having filed a flight plan or been issued one."

"So all we gotta do is intercept this sword person on the way to the airport." Castiel stroked the good side of his chin. "Any ideas on how?"

"A few. But I'm going to need your help. Weevil, too. Half the Las Vegas magical underworld is gunning after this guy."

"Must be a fantastic sword." Castiel nodded at Joka. "What about him? He coming, too?"

"Yes, I'm afraid. If we leave him here, he may just terrify the cleaning staff. Or do something unspeakable with his oil and we'll have a hell of a bill on check out." Fushioh sighed, gesturing to the cavalcade of junk on the table. "And it will take me hours to repair him."

"What happened to him, anyway?"

"Oh, he double-parked a stolen D-Wheel in the wrong spot in the bad part of town."

"I see. I've heard the gangs down there are pretty rough customers, even for Shadowkind." Castiel said with a nod.

Fushioh cocked his head. "What? Gang? Oh, no. It was a little old lady."

Weevil erupted into laughter. "You serious!?"

"Don't laugh, shrimp!" Joka grumbled. "Little old lady was pretty mean with that cane!"

TTTTTTT

When performing surgery, time had a way of slipping away from you. The intense focus required blocked out all outside distraction as you lost yourself in walking the tightrope between life and death. But once you hopefully reached the other side with your patient intact, everything that could mark the passage of time - hunger, fatigue, sensations of sweat on your skin, blurred eyes - came heaving down on you like an avalanche that could drive the best surgeons to their knees in overwhelming exhaustion.

So it was a fortunate thing that Serenity had a plush couch to sink into and she did so with a tired sigh that visibly seemed to deflate her as she exhaled. Her eyes closed as she tilted her head back against the sofa and she could feel Instinct pressed a damp, cooling cloth to her forehead. "That has got to be the weirdest surgery I have ever done."

"It was a new experience for me." Contrary to the logic that a surgical patient required rest and care, Dracula was on her feet. Having just finished cleaning up the mess from the surgery, the vampire was bustling around the kitchen so that she might cook food for her human guest. The only signs that Serenity had been wrist-deep in her guts not even twenty minutes before were the fact she would pause every so often to take a gulp of blood and the fact there was a line of sutures extending from her sternum to just past her belly-button. "But I already feel a million times better and climbing. You have done a marvelous job, doctor. Your skills are top-notch."

"Thank you. But you did most of the work." Serenity murmured, still having enough energy to marvel at the vampire's body. The astounding regenerative powers Dracula had were nothing short of miraculous. "You regrew all of your organs and bones and kept yourself alive. I was just tidying them up."

"Do not give yourself too-little credit. To operate on a living, awake patient and reattach my organs to the correct place would have defeated any other surgeon."

"Figuring out which bits go where is as easy as looking at a textbook. Hunting down those living pieces of cancerous shadows was the hard part." Serenity would have loved to study the weird, hard-Jell-O like tissue. But each piece had dissolved away into ether scant seconds after being removed from Dracula's body. "What were they, anyway?"

"Bits of shadow magic. 'Void' magic that saturated my essence. When I tried to reform my body, it came along for the ride." Good smells and sizzling sounds drifted over Dracula's shoulder along with her words.

Something about that tugged a memory free, back from when she had been trying to comprehend the world through a hangover. "Lyrius said that it came from his sword?"

"Yes. _Oblivion._ It is a one-of-a-kind magical sword. Cuts through anything, indestructible, so on and so forth. But it was forged with blood and shadow magic. Lyrius can launch waves of destruction from the blade because of that, with the aftermath being what infested my body."

Serenity opened her eyes a thought occurred to her. "The sword Solex was hunting is Lyrius'. But I know that he said the sword works only for him. So who used it on you?"

"Something madman named Gospel Truth. How he circumvented the sword's restrictions, I do not know. But it was not a complete process - had Lyrius been using the sword and not Gospel, I would not be here having this conversation with you." Dracula swept over to Serenity, pushing a plate of food in front of her. "Eat."

It smelled more than amazing and that first whiff startled Serenity's hunger awake like a starving pack of wolves sensing a deer running right through them. The first bite was orgasmic medley of flavor and Serenity moaned in sudden hunger as she tore into the breakfast. She had forgotten how long surgical stints could go, but her body hadn't and was demanding food as fast as she could shovel it down. When she finished the first, Dracula replaced it with a second and the doctor attacked that one equal fervor.

She was wrapping up the third plate by mopping up the bits and pieces with a half-eaten slice of toast when she lifted her head to see Dracula seated on the far end of the couch. "Something the matter?"

"Nothing pressing." Dracula said between drinks of blood. "I thought you would be more concerned about Lyrius."

Serenity shook her head. "I'm more upset that all he did was leave a text message about he and Solex were going after his sword and Gospel than tell me straight. But it's not like I could have gone with him or anything. I was elbow-deep in your chest cavity."

"True. I suspect Lyrius would not have gone after his sword if it had not hurt me. He has always been the kind of man who prefers to apologize with actions instead of words."

Serenity chewed on her last bite of food, making a noise of agreement before swallowing. "When he was living with me in Satellite, I had to about to strap him in bed to keep him from getting up to help with chores or do stuff. Kept saying he did not want to put a strain on my already meager resources."

"That sounds like him, yes." Dracula swirled her blood as she spoke. "I think he is like that because he often has a case of foot-in-mouth if he tries to apologize with his words. When we were dating, he cleaned and tidied my entire kitchen and made five lasagnes to apologise for putting his sword through my dining table."

The laugh bubbled out of Serenity as she imagined the scenario. "He doesn't have much of a silver tongue, does he?"

"No, he does not." Dracula agreed with a chuckle of her own. Then her eyes drifted, a wane smile on her face. "But in a few rare moments, that artist's soul peeks through and he finds the words that make you certain you're his entire world in that moment. When he's in love, a finer poet there never were."

"...should I leave you and your pleasant thoughts about his artist's soul alone?" Serenity drawled in a bored tone. Inside she felt a tiny sliver of disappointment that Dracula was the one to know this firsthand, and she was not.

The vampire raised an eyebrow at her, but she was smirking before erupting into a round of giggles and was joined by Serenity in short order.

Dracula paused in her chuckles as a few orchestral notes filled the room. Rising, she pulled her cell phone from where it was one the island and swiped it open. Serenity didn't even had time to be curious before the vampire lowered the phone and turned to her. "That was my minions. They've located Mai Valentine."

Serenity choked on air; she stopped giggling so fast. Thoughts spun in her head. When had Dracula started looking for Mai? Did Lyrius ask her to do it? Or was it the vampire's own initiative? Part of her games? How long had Mai been here? Had she been waiting for two whole weeks?

 _Focus. Focus._ Serenity pushed the whirlwind of thoughts away before it could erupt into a full-blown tornado of panic. She had to deal with first things first - more information about the present, not the past.

"Which hotel is she staying at? I know she can't afford the Strip, but there's plenty of cheaper ones…" At Dracula's look, Serenity found a sinking feeling settling in her stomach. Even if her mind was always supplying an alternate denial. "Okay, which casino? This is Vegas, she likes to gamble."

Dracula shook her head.

The sinking feeling hit rock bottom and then drilled deeper. "Did she find some rich person to latch onto? She's done that before. Hell, she taught me how to do that in a pinch…"

"She is not anywhere anyone like her should ever want to be." The vampire rose to her feet, letting her bathrobe drop to the floor as she marched over to a closet and opened it. "I will fetch her. You will wait here."

"The hell I am!" Serenity shot to her feet, eyes narrowed as the vampire gave her a cool look over her shoulder. "And don't say that waiting a few moments more to see my friend again doesn't compare to waiting twenty years. Last time I decided to sit and wait, it only got worse, not better!"

Dracula lifted a curious eyebrow at the outburst, then turned back to the closet and pulled out an outfit. "I really do not have the energy or the want to stay here and bicker with you. I am going and you may come. But that choice is yours." She paused. "And so are its consequences."

Serenity felt the sinking feeling erupt with spikes of panic that left a chill flooding her bones. "Dracula, what is going on? Where is Mai? Is she alright?"

Dracula's only response was to finish up the buttons of her outfit and then sweep for the door so fast Serenity almost didn't make it after her in time.

The redhead refused to think about what would happen if they didn't make it to Mai on time.

TTTTTT

"Andy, please stop glaring at Lyrius. You will dry your eyeballs out."

"He needs to stop staring at Fran and I, Solex."

"That is not possible."

"Why is that? Afraid we'll get away before you can get your revenge?"

"No. We're on a public bus and I'm sitting in the seat behind you."

Lyrius, for the majority of the time, had the patience of a saint. In fact, he prided himself on being able to wait. A short bus journey which would lead them to the villain who had ripped Dracula to pieces should have been well within his capabilities after a thousand years as a ghost. And yet after only five minutes, he was finding it hard to resist the temptation to see if he could throw Andy through the emergency exit hatch in the ceiling.

Fran seemed to harbour similar sentiments. She had spent most of the journey staring at her phone, checking her camera roll to fill in her memory lapses from the previous night, her jaw clenching each time Andy sighed or tutted. Now, at last, she tore her eyes away from the device to seize her boyfriend by the arm and yank him the right way round in his seat. "Good god, Andy, you are twenty one, not five! Turn around and sit down in your seat properly. People are looking."

"That's because Solex looks like a supermodel and Lyrius is a badly disguised Batman!"

"Ahh, it's Vegas." Solex laced his fingers behind his head. "They just think we're part of the entertainment."

Lyrius could not resist an eye roll as Solex fired a wink toward a group of sightseeing women. They giggled and one of them, wearing a sash that boldly proclaimed her to be 'chief bridesmaid', returned his wink with far more emphasis than necessary. "Must you? We are _working_."

"Hey, all I'm doing is passing the time. You're the one who's got our radar." The elf nodded at the faint white glow leaking out between Lyrius' cupped hands. "Speaking of which, are we still going in the right direction?"

Lyrius glanced between his hands - the moon moth had nestled itself up small, antennae twitching as it pointed forwards. "It's still pointing in the direction the bus is going. And it knows when the bus turns, too."

"Huh. A goddess including Google Maps in her magical bug radar. Wonders never cease."

"Such as how you are _still_ flirting." Lyrius huffed as the women erupted into giggles again and then a second set of giggles answered from somewhere else on the bus. "With two groups now?"

"I like to have options. And I'm bored trying to keep Andy from killing you." Solex nudged Lyrius with his elbow. "Besides, celibacy is more your bag."

Now it was Fran's turn to swing around in her seat, and Lyrius felt colour rush to his face. _Why did I agree to let Solex come along?_

"Celibacy? I thought you were married to Serenity?" She frowned trying to remember if they had told her this, or if this was another memory lapse that she had to fill. Andy was pretending to ignore the conversation, but Lyrius caught a tiny twitch of his head that showed he was not unengaged.

"You are?" Solex gaped. "You didn't tell me that!"

Lyrius was dying to fold his arms, but he was reluctant to let go of the moon moth, so instead settled for rolling his eyes again. "The same way you didn't tell me about your proteges."

It was an about turn from the flirty winks of a moment ago - Solex's mouth opened and closed a few times like a goldfish, before he frowned. "Touche. Still - you have separate hotel rooms! So I assumed..."

"Sure, you moved on from the psycho-bitch Queen who dominated your life for ten centuries," Andy was muttering under his breath, but the sarcasm dripped off it like a tidal wave off the ocean "I bet they have separate rooms because he said Iris' name during sex."

"Andy!" Mortified by his lack of tact, Fran rounded on her boyfriend once more, fury bubbling through her voice. "I swear to God if you're going to act like this all day I will stuff you and Lyrius into a motel room until you get rid of this raging hate-boner you have for his dead wife! We're on a job! With our boss! Act like it!"

Far from being annoyed by his protege's unprofessional attitude, Solex burst out laughing. Andy's face flushed.

"Why are you taking his side?!" he demanded, cheek twitching in anger. "And if we're going to talk about acting like professionals, we could have had this whole job wrapped up by now if you hadn't spent last night getting drunk with the bad guys!"

"Oh my God, will you let it go already?"

"Why should I? I'm the only one here acting like a sane person!"

"Yes, your whole demeanor screams of sanity," Lyrius found himself muttering in the direction of the moon moth.

"Nobody asked you!" Andy shot back.

"Alright, true, but I'm telling you. All three of you," Solex said with a surprising amount of brisk professionalism, "Drop the subject and let it rest. You want to hash it out, do it after we're done working. _Capish?_ "

Andy's jaw closed, then his expression loosened, and he nodded. "Fine. I'm sorry. I'll drop it."

"Oh sure, you listen to him!" Fran snapped, but she folded her arms and sat back in her seat anyway.

"He pays us!"

Lyrius may not have been one hundred percent on his social awareness, but it was easy to tell that the atmosphere in the bus was rapidly becoming thick and unpleasant. Enough so that the group of giggling girls had stopped and were talking in too-loud whispers about the spat Fran and Andy were having. What struck him most however was the mood that was emanating from each hero, Fran's bitter and exhausted, as though she'd had this fight far too many times, and Andy petulant and confused as though this had come out of the blue, and he could not understand why nobody agreed with him.

 _At least he's not alone in his misery - this situation is far from pleasant for any of us...well...almost any of us._ He thought, catching Solex, with the care and grace of a master artist, raking one hand through his hair to a chorus of sighs down the bus.

But his prayers of having a way out were answered as the moth began to wriggle excitedly in his hands, the light shining a bit brighter and its wings began to tickle his fingertips. Opening his hands just enough, he saw the moth darting determinedly towards the right. Then he frowned as it suddenly darted to the left, twirled to point behind him and then circled back to the front before going completely rigid and still.

Solex noticed it, too and leaned over to get a better look. "What the heck is that supposed to mean?"

"I do not know. The moth moves in the direction of the sword. I doubt it has lost track of it. Deities are not so unreliable with their gifts." Lyrius frowned at the moth. It still wasn't moving.

"Well, if it's like a pointer dog, maybe it's just found the thing and is staying still to mark the spot." Solex suggested. Then his eyes widened a little. "But that would put the sword…"

With a thunderous crash, the emergency rooftop exit shattered, sending plastic raining down on the heads of the shrieking tourists. The figure that crashed to the floor could have been given 'walking corpse' as a charitable description. His clothing was in tatters, an ugly knot of half-melted flesh covering the hole in his chest where his heart had been and he was covered in grime and blood.

Yet there was no mistaking the fervor in those very-much-alive eyes. Or the sword he was holding in one hand.

Everyone on the bus sans the driver stopped what they were doing and stared at the bedraggled excuse for a priest in surprise and terror. Lyrius felt Solex's hand grip his wrist and pin it to the seat, and his other hand was digging fingers into Andy's shoulder. Even after two years since their last mission together, he recognised the look in the elf's eyes. _Stay put and_ _don't do anything_ _stupid._

"My name is Gospel. And I am doing the Lord's work. I require that you aid me in this task by remaining silent, not calling the authorities or doing anything foolish. Once I have reached my destination, you may go about the rest of your blessed day as you please." Gospel said to the bus as if it were his congregation, a relaxed, calming tone that might have worked better if he had not looked so dangerous. "Driver, take us to the North Las Vegas Airport. With all haste."

The diver, watching the scene through his rearview mirror, swallowed as Gospel pointed _Oblivion_ at him and ducked his head down as the bus lurched back into motion. "Right away, sir."

Several people let out whimpers of fright as the vehicle moved again, but Lyrius barely noticed, his attention fixed on the blade in Gospel's hand. _So Dracula spoke true - he can wield it._ Even after hearing it, seeing the weapon in another's hands was disturbing.

Andy had a white-knuckled grip on the seat in front of him. "Bastard...what kind of priest takes innocent people hostage?"

He was already half-out of his seat and Gospel was turning towards the noise - Lyrius was not about to let the situation get out of hand. His hand darted out, fingers landing on a pressure point on his leg that folded it up underneath him and dropped Andy back into his seat.

But it was too late. Gospel was approaching them and there was a look in his silver eyes that wasn't all that sane and he glanced over Andy. "Is there a problem, my child?"

"No." Andy said after only a second's hesitation and a pointed sleeve-tug from Fran. "No problem."

"Good. There's no reason to invite trouble. Once I have reached my destination, you will be free to go to yours." He pointed with the sword up the aisle at the front of the bus. He swept his gaze - and his sword - over the rest of the passengers, the bus silent as the grave now. They were all staring with wide-eyes at him, some of them flinching as the blade passed over them.

His searching eyes darted over to Solex, who was maintaining steady eye contact with the floor. Gospel stared at him for a moment more, then switched his gaze to Lyrius. Those silver eyes blinked, once, twice, as if he was trying to clear something in his vision. Then he wiped his free hand down his face, shaking his head and waving the hand around it like there was a fly buzzing around him. "I know you…"

Lyrius resisted the urge to raise his eyebrow and fire off a quip about he'd remember being hijacked by a priest before - he was sure he could disarm Gospel of _Oblivion_ and disable him even while seated like this. But it wasn't a certainty and that meant there was plenty of risk to everyone else aboard.

Gospel blinked again, rubbed at his eyes and they focused on Lyrius, clearing for a moment in recognition. "I do know you!"

In what capacity, Lyrius never found out as the fog shrouded Gospel's eyes again and with an angry cry, he drove _Oblivion_ into Lyrius' chest with inhuman speed. "Death to the blasphemer's against the Lord!" He cried fanatically.

Except Lyrius was no longer there and the sword just sank through the seat, stopped from piercing all the way through as the hilt snagged on the armrest. Lyrius appeared in a whirl of shadow behind Gospel, seizing the elf in a headlock. "Solex!"

"On it!" Solex's foot slammed into Gospel's wrist, cracking it against the armrest and he released _Oblivion_ with a grunt of pain. He reached to yank the sword away from the priest, then yanked back his hand with a yelp of pain. He regarded the black steam spilling from his fingertips with frustration. "Right, crap. Sword is picky!"

Lyrius had forced Gospel to a knee, leaning his weight into the other man and unbothered by the elbows that kept landing in his side. "Yield, Gospel!"

"Never! I will not fail in my mission for the Lord!" Gospel snarled. "I cannot!"

"You already have!" Lyrius furthered his point by tightening his headlock to the point of near strangulation.

But then he noticed something - Gospel was breathing hard, straining to get loose. But his breaths ragged pants as if he was struggling with something else besides Lyrius. And they were all deep and consistent. _I am strangling him. Yet he draws breath_ _like he doesn_ _'t need air. Then -_

Gospel finished the thought for him by ripping one of his arms free and seizing Lyrius around the leg. With an angry roar, he jumped upwards and slammed Lyrius into the roof. A hard elbow dislodged Lyrius' loosened grip and then the priest kicked him down the aisle towards the back of the bus.

"Hey!" Fran's fist slammed into the back of Gospel's neck and he stumbled, but lashed out with a reverse kick that almost caught in her the gut. But it fell short and as he moved to get upright again, she was on him. A flurry of jabs and low punches rocked Gospel's chest and stomach, driving him backwards until he caught seats with both hands. With them as leverage, he flipped up with a kick that caught Fran in the jaw. The blow lifted her off her feet and then Gospel caught her ankles and slammed her to the floor.

Then the priest was screaming in surprised pain as Solex squeezed a spray can right into his face. He staggered backwards, clawing at his eyes.

"...did you just mace him?" Andy asked from where he was helping Fran to her feet.

"Yes!" The Sun Elf gave him an annoyed look. "What is it with everyone I know and resorting to blows as the first option? First rule of bounty hunting - have ways to disable your targets without fighting on their terms!"

"Your demonic tricks will not stop me!" Gospel was leaking tears, snot and what looked like blood from his eyes and nose. But he was surging back up the aisle. Solex leaned out of the way of swiping clawed fingers, then jabbed his free arm into the priest's armpit. There was a sharp crackling, then a smell of something burning and Gospel began to spasm. Then his eyes rolled back up into his head and he collapsed bonelessly, limbs still twitching.

"But my stun gun will stop you." Solex waggled the device, then rolled his eyes as Andy and Fran stared at him. "Oh for the love of - do _either_ of you listen to me when I talk about tips and tricks of the trade!?"

The two, sheepish, hung their heads and moved to restrain the dazed and twitching body. Lyrius rejoined the group, pulling _Oblivion_ from the seat and keeping the blade pointed down. The handle was warm from Gospel's grip, a comfortable familiarity weighing into his soul. This sword had been part of him once upon a time - _it is part of Iris…_ And yet as he looked at it now, he could feel nothing of what had drawn him to it once upon a time - just guilt for all that it was responsible for in the last five years. _Am I letting go of my past? Or is it_ _just_ _weighing me down?_

He staggered out of his reflection by a jolt beneath his feet, accompanied by the grinding of speeding gears. The bus was tearing down the street, swaying as it weaved around other cars, filling the air with a cacophony of enraged honks and screeching tires in its wake.

"Hey, driver!" Getting to her feet Fran staggered her way towards the front. "We beat the bad guy! You can slow down now!"

"Oh, I can?"

There was something in the driver's voice that set Lyrius' hairs on end and he grabbed the two nearest seats to him on reflex. "Brace yourselves!"

The warning wasn't as fast as the driver's foot - the bus screeched to a halt in a handful of seconds. Fran, helpless against the momentum, went flying forwards for a near miss on a handrail by the driver's seat, while Andy collided with Solex and knocked the elf down into aisle.

Lyrius barely kept himself upright from the sudden stop, even as his senses screamed a warning. He turned, slashing with _Oblivion_ to cut off the threat's head - only to realize he was aiming too high for this opponent as familiar nasal cackle reached his ears the same time a razor-edged stinger reached his neck. "Weevil!"

"Didja miss me, boogeyman?" Weevil smirked from underneath his bangs, the magic lines of his skin pulsing.

Andy came up behind him with a snarl, but frozen when he caught sight of something over Lyrius' shoulder.

"That's right, hero. Do nothing rash." A pained gasp of air from who had to be Fran accompanied the warning in the new voice. "Or she'll pay for it."

Lyrius knew that voice, too. "Castiel. So you survived Duelist Kingdom."

"I did. If you see my sister after this, tell her the drinks are on me."

"Serenity doesn't drink blood."

"Really? You should ask her about some more fun things we did with our prey." Castiel barked a laugh. "Or you know, I could demonstrate on your friend here…"

"Bastard!" Andy clenched his fists. "You try anything and you'll be having the rest of your meals through a straw!"

"As fun as it may be to exchange cliche action hero dialogue, we should really move on to the matter at hand." A purple-haired teen slid free of the crush of people at the back and moved towards them. He produced a large case from another seat. "Ah...Mister Markova, was it? Could you move aside? You, too, Mister Delamare. I need to speak to Lyrius there."

"You-" Andy started to protest, but Solex - having freed himself from between the seats, yanked the younger man into an empty seat. "What are you doing?"

"We've lost, Andy." Solex said tightly. "Lyrius has got a weapon to his neck, Fran's being held hostage, and the bus is too crowded to fight on. It's better to give them the sword and let them go."

"You _are_ quite quick on the uptake, Mister Delamare." The teen said approvingly. Turning his attention back to the Lyrius - Weevil standoff, he gestured. "If you could just carefully set _Oblivion_ on the floor and kick it over here, that would be excellent, Lyrius."

Lyrius frowned at the teen, then nodded once. "You're the lich from Satellite."

"Ah, yes. I was so busy trying to kill you I never told you my name. It is Fushioh. I'm surprised you recognized me with my disguise. Care to tell me how you did it?" Without waiting for a reply, the disguised lich gestured amicably towards himself. "Come on now, come on now. The sword."

Lyrius didn't move, the bus deathly still and eerily quiet. But no matter how he turned the situation over in his head, there was no good result. But there were still a few cards to play. "You really think you're going to make a getaway with all these witnesses? Dracula still travels with me and the Las Vegas Shadowchasers will never let you get away with this."

There was another little smug laugh from Castiel. "What witnesses?" His grip still tight around Fran's neck, the vampire snapped his fingers and all the other people on the bus just rippled and vanished out of existence.

 _Realistic illusions. A power of the Orichalcos. So he still has some stones._ Filing that little fact away, Lyrius finally knelt down slowly, put the sword on the ground and slid it between Weevil's legs towards Fushioh.

"Heh." Weevil sniggered as Lyrius stood up again, stinger still pressed against his throat. "I thought for sure you'd try something, hero. Like cut me in half."

"There's no need to sully my blade with the blood of a maggot."

Weevil's eyes flashed behind his glasses and he growled, digging the stinger into Lyrius' neck enough to draw a few drops of blood. "You wanna say that again with your throat cut open?"

"Weevil, now is not the time. We're on a tight schedule." Fushioh said from where he was trying to get the sword into the case. Lyrius had to admit that the lich had outsmarted the sword's protections in a rather simplistic way - he was using two large pairs of tongs to lift it.

"Just let me kill him. It'll be quick." Weevil pressed a bit harder and Lyrius felt the tip of the stinger dig into his flesh. "Promise."

"If you try to kill me," Lyrius warned darkly. "You'll be dead before you can even finish the cut."

"Tch. You've got some balls, boogeyman. I'll give you that." Weevil sneered. But then he smirked. "Maybe I should fix that."

"...maybe we should have left him with the porn channels after all," Castiel drawled.

"Shut up, Castiel!" Weevil fired around Lyrius. "If you think I'm going to take anymore of your shit, you've got-"

Weevil's protests got off with a pained ' _wheek!'_ and his eyes bugged out behind his glasses. Lyrius glanced down, realizing that a booted foot had darted between his legs and driven its heel squarely into Weevil's crotch.

Then Lyrius remembered that Gospel had been lying on the ground behind him. But there was no time to move as the leg retreated and he felt his knee buckle as a kick landed in the joint. Then a hand slammed his head against the seat hard enough to break the corner off and the world spun.

He caught a glimpse of Weevil dropping to his knees, clutching between his legs only to receive a foot to the face that sent him crashing into Fushioh and the case. Sensations of motion and blunted grunts suggested Andy and Solex trying to join the fight. There was a sharp crackle of the stun gun and a yell of pain from Andy.

The world settled into clarity just in time for Lyrius to see Gospel grab the case that had _Oblivion_ and he leapt out of the roof exit. Swearing, Lyrius called on his power and erupted out of shadows on the roof.

Gospel was still leaking blood from his eyes and nose from the mace, but he no longer seemed to be feeling it. He didn't even slow from Lyrius' sudden appearance in front of him, lashing out with the case.

Lyrius leaned his upper body to avoid the swing, block the backhand and fired off a volley of jabs that slammed into Gospel. But the priest staggered only a step, and he drew into a combat stance, lacing his arm through the case's handle and digging his fingers into the front. At the same time, he plunged his other hand into his shirt and came out holding a massive cross. He squeezed and blades popped out of the edges and tips.

It was like going swimming and realizing you'd misjudged the depth of the water. With his kicks and attacks being intercepted by Gospel's impromptu shield and having to avoid the slashing blade of the dagger, Lyrius found himself stalemated. Even teleports into Gospel's blind spots or flickers to just a few inches forward or back didn't seem to throw the priest's off.

Lyrius deflected the knife hand's wrist before the cross-guard could dig into his side and landed a swift short jab into Gospel's neck. The priest hacked up blood, but the blow didn't even stun him. _I almost crushed his windpipe with that - I was right. He_ _does not need to_ _breathe!_

He twitched as the knife thrust for his face, felt it score a nick on his cheek - and that little wound felt like his face had was on fire. The stunned moment it took to process this cost him, Gospel clobbering him in the face with the case and only a hasty teleport backwards kept from taking a painful stab to the neck from that blade. _The knife hurts - is it enchanted?  
_

There was a blur of motion off the side of the bus, a squeal of tires and frightened honks. The bus was moving again and both combatants went staggering across the roof as the vehicle cornered at a speed it was near meant to. Lyrius caught the emergency exit hatch, sparing a glance backwards and unsurprised that there were the flashing lights of police cars weaving their way after them. Whoever was driving the bus now knew that if the mundane authorities got involved, the only way out of here would be in handcuffs or a bloodbath.

Gospel was back on his feet first, stance low against the rocking of the bus and the wind resistance. But before he could close the gap, a figure vaulted up out of one of the side exits in a whirl of long coat and algae-like hair - Castiel armed with a pair of daggers himself.

Gospel didn't miss a beat, lunging case-first into the vampire in an attempt to shove him off before he could get his balance.

Castiel caught the charge, slamming a dent in the metal roof with one foot to brace himself with. The two strained, Castiel trying to leverage the case to throw Gospel over him. Then there was a glimmer of light as the dagger came into play and to Lyrius' surprise, Castiel screamed in pain before slapping Gospel away. There was a wound in his forearm and a silvery steam was pouring from it.

 _Not enchanted. Blessed by a god_ _of some kind_ _._ Lyrius rose himself, letting his body sway in time with the bus even as he lowered his center of gravity. _Just what is Gospel? He can hold my sword, has survived his heart being crushed and despite all his crimes, has divine spellcasting._

But what seemed to be the most true about Gospel now was that he was trouble. Metal was ringing as he and Castiel clashed weapons again and again. Nicks and cuts were opening all over both of them and the frustrated look on Castiel's face was showing that despite everything he'd suffered, Gospel was pressing him back.

One of Castiel's knives sank into the case and Gospel wrenched his arm, the knife flying into the street. Backhanding Castiel with the case, Gospel kicked him in the knee and the vampire fell to a knee, screaming as Gospel's holy weapon plunged into his remaining eye. Steam and blood vented around the wound even as Gospel immediately turned to face Lyrius.

But Castiel's body vanished in a ripple of light as two hands punched through the bus' ceiling to seize Gospel's ankles. Gospel howled in pain as Castiel attempted to rip him through the two holes in the metal. Yet the priest still didn't skip a beat even as his hips lodged in the tears - he smashed the connecting beat of metal with his knife and dropped back into the bus. Shouts, angry cries and bellows of pain erupted below - then several of the windows exploded out as magic flashed an angry violet.

Lyrius was too busy hanging on the bus to crawl over to the hole - they were now speeding dangerously close to the oncoming lanes of traffic and the sirens behind them sounded even more numerous.

" _Oh, you muck-fothering song of a beach -"_ Castiel came flying out of the hole. His hand snared the edge before he could skitter off the roof and his good eye was glowing teal. Gospel followed a moment later, bleeding profusely from several claw marks on his chest and arms. He didn't seem to feel them as he twisted as he land, waves of red hissing in the air towards Lyrius.

 _Blood magic!_ Lyrius teleported along the length of his shadow, the pointed knives hissing right where his head had been. They weren't made of metal - Gospel had conjured them from his blood.

And he seemed to conjure speed like he was lightning - even as Lyrius reappeared, the priest was lashing with another blood dagger in his grip for his chest. Lyrius twisted, seizing both wrist and elbow in a joint lock to break the limb. Then the bus banked sharply, his foot slipping on the curve of the roof and suddenly his attempted grip on Gospel was now Gospel's means to leverage him. With inhuman strength, Gospel hoisted him into the air and hurled him off the bus.

Shadows twisted around Lyrius, yanking him back to the roof - only to lose his footing again as the bus banked again and he was sent sliding towards the opposite edge. Metal cut into his palm as he snared the edge of the hole and slammed bodily into the side of the bus along side a still struggling Castiel.

The vampire gave him an annoyed look, straining to haul himself up enough to get his other hand into play. "The goddamn priest is a vampire! The fucker _bit_ me!"

"A vampire?" Lyrius could see it - two sets of puncture marks on Castiel's other bicep. Ones deep enough and hard enough to look like that arm was not good for much more than twitching. "Are you certain?"

"No, I just thought having a civil conversation on the side of a goddamn bus was a great way to bond with my sister's boyfriend!"

"I'm not her boyfriend." Lyrius started, then a honking car narrowly taking off his foot reminded him that Castiel was right. He hooked one leg through a shattered window, sparing a glance inside to find Fran and Weevil grappling in the middle of the aisle while Andy was tending to Solex who was nursing a nasty wound on his side. And up in the driver's seat, hunched over the wheel, was Fushioh. "Why is the lich driving the bus?!"

"Weevil's too short!" Castiel responded and then cursed as a blood knife pierced the roof near his hand. "Truce?!"

"Truce." Lyrius promptly kicked Castiel in the side, dislodging the vampire from his grip.

"You bastard-" Castiel's angry yell become a surprised holler as Lyrius caught his good hand and used the momentum of their speed and his fall to arc the vampire bak onto the bus' roof. Then Lyrius curled his feet on the bus' side, hands reverse-gripping the top of the window and flipped himself up.

Gospel was waiting for them, _Oblivion_ drawn from the case. Darkness was wreathing the weapon and he slashed it through the air to launch an arc of power at them. But he was facing the front of the bus and the attack reversed direction, smattering his clothing and face with embers. He went staggering back, nearly toppling off the back of the bus before catching himself.

"Some sword!" Castiel gave Lyrius a smirk. "Can't even spit in the wind!"

Then darkness ripped between them and the vampire was left gaping at the neat, foot-wide hole the attack ripped in the bus from back to front.

Lyrius offered him a shrug. "Some sword, right?"

"Well, if it's yours, how do we get it away from him? Or beat it?" Castiel demanded over the howling wind. Gospel was already winding up another attack.

"Do not get hit."

"Are you always this helpful? Or is it just me?"

Lyrius didn't get a chance to respond. Gospel was already firing the attack - but then the bus went tilting dangerously, the energy expending itself useless into the air and shearing through a street lamp. There was the screeching of brakes, surprised yells from those down bellow, then a cacophony of honking horns and car alarms as his footing slipped away.

And the ground raced up to catch him.

TTTTT

"Do you think those sirens we heard have anything to with Lyrius?"

"I hope so." Dracula said in a wistful tone. "He is at his most elegant in combat."

"...are you drooling?"

"Not at all. Must be leftover blood - that guard did wriggle so..."

Serenity wasn't really feeling the mood behind the jovial words she was saying. She was ansty, riled, her body thrumming with fresh energy to lash out and do something. She had been all set to use her magic to rip apart the guards who had denied their entry to the elevator they were currently in. But Dracula had been faster, slamming one guard against the wall so hard he was knocked out and the other had thrown a punch that hit nothing but as the ruler of vampires had sank her fangs into his neck. "What is Mai _doing_ here?"

"She's a duelist and a famous one at that. So I would assume she's in the Dueling Underground to do just that. Duel underground." Dracula said.

"The Dueling Underground is one thing, but the Shadowkind one?" Serenity jabbed a finger back up the way they'd came. "Those guards were three times the size of a person!"

"They're ogres, dear."

"Point is, they weren't human. And if Mai could see behind the Veil, she'd never come here! She hates magic and anything to do with it! She was terrified of it when I saw her last!"

"Perhaps she overcame her fears." Dracula shrugged, then glanced at Serenity's hand as it clamped down on her upper arm. "Excuse you?"

"What aren't you telling me about this, Dracula?" Serenity could feel her power bubbling just under the surface of her words - cold and dark. But she didn't care. "You already asked me to wait outside and now you're just playing with me."

The vampire gave her a cool look. "This is not your usual criminal hideout, doctor. Shadowkind vices can be many times worse than even the most terrible of human ones. And your friend is here, of her own free will according to my minions. If she is, she must be indulging in some dark desires. And I am hoping to spare you the pain of seeing how far your friend has fallen."

Serenity thought of Mai's last few years on Satellite - how afraid she had been. How wild with paranoia. And how desperate she could become to regain any semblance of control when life spun wildly around her. She had heard all about the Paradias crisis from Joey - she knew what Mai could do when pushed. And she was not stupid - she could guess what sort of vices she might see down here, and she knew what Dracula was trying to brace her for.

 _She is still Mai. She is still my friend._ The thought blazed inside her as every ounce of determination she had ever felt to find her friend raged desperately at the thought of being so close. _I was a terrible friend in Satellite. But not any more. No matter what I see in there, I will remember who she is to me._

The elevator 'dinged!' to a stop and the doors parted. Dracula led the way without hesitation, striding into the room like she owned the place. Serenity was right behind her, anger and tension help to brace herself against what she might see.

It was somehow both more and less than what she had expected. Some kind of low, quiet music was in the background, bass low enough she could feel the floor vibrate slightly. There were tables everywhere, most of them occupied by elves, dark-skinned variants she knew were drow, pockmarked and scar-covered things that she could only assume were orcs and more species - some with tentacles, some with oversized limbs, some with tusked faces and six eyes - that she could not identify.

Her nose tingled with the scent of fancy cigars, chemicals and other things she could not guess mingled in the air that ultimately gave it a dark and bitter taste. A surrusus of noise was audible over the music - catcalls, drunken slurs, too-loud whispers of love, drink orders, arguments over Duel Monsters and more.

Illumination was down to less than half of what humans needed, the shadows adding frightening depth to the place. Serenity felt her Doctor Death mask solidify into place on her face as she fell into step behind Dracula and the world became more visible. But only so far - the magic of the mask did not let her peer into the depths of the corners or private booths, yet she was certain the things there were looking back.

Dracula paused as a trio of figures rose from a nearby table. They were all dressed in nice clothing - turtlenecks and kahkis. An out of place white-collar group that stuck out like a sore thumb in this place. At least until Serenity realized all of them had fangs and red eyes just like Dracula.

"Master." The one in the lead said as they all dropped to one knee. "We are pleased you got our message."

"It is a temporary emotion, my servant." Dracula responded. "For I see you have not procured the woman in question. Why is it that I must come to fetch her?"

"It was our desire to bring her to you, Master. But she would not leave her place here - she is an…" The minion paused, searching for the world. "Attraction here. She desires narcotics, inebriates and all manner of flesh pleasures."

"Then why did you not simply restrain her and bring her to me?" Dracula demanded, her tone darkening slightly.

"We attempted to do so, Master. However, the woman is very popular here. We feared any attempt at force would turn the crowds against us." The minion said with glimmer of annoyance in his eyes. "We would not stain our Master's reputation by spilling innocent blood, even if they are the foolish and the weak."

"I see. Then I will take over from here." Dracula gestured and the three rose. "Take me to her."

They all nodded and turned to lead them through the maze of tables. Serenity kept up, careful to continually scan the crowd for a potential threat. Yet all they got was a lot of curious looks that lasted seconds or less. Any who stared longer were apparently leering at them - but only until their gazes found Dracula. At which point they retreated farther into the darkness or their drinks. And wherever they passed, the noise level dropped several notched. "Dracula-"

"They will only look. The smarter ones know who I am, what I can do and the pain I can inflict upon them. The stupider ones still know enough not to mess with four vampires." Dracula said before Serenity could finish her thought. "You are safe. You are with me."

 _And soon enough, Mai will be, too._ This place was reminding her too much of Satellite's early days. Too many powerful people in too small a space with drugs, booze and more clouding their judgements. All of them wanting more - more supple flesh to touch, more money to count, more power over the others. A pack of starving piranhas waiting for something to drop into the water.

They passed by the dueling field - though, it was more of a dueling cage. Steel fencing caged the duelists, two semi-naked women. A muted roar echoed out as an attack was exchanged and one of their life points fell. But instead of the electro-shock bands Serenity had come to expect from underground dueling, the woman's bra vanished. With a start, she realized the woman weren't actually wearing anything at all - it was all holographic disguises. It gave new meaning to 'strip dueling'.

And judging from the catcalls, yells and money being thrown at the now topless woman, it was a meaning that everyone here seemed to like. Serenity felt her fingers clenched as she realized that some of what being thrown wasn't just money - there were syringes and baggies filled with powders and crystals. Items the woman was carefully piling up with her foot even as she tried to focus on the game.

 _I am getting Mai out of here even if I have to blast my way out._ Promise strengthening her resolve, Serenity tried not to clench her teeth too hard as Dracula's minions led them through the rest of the bar area and into a hallway with doors. They were all shut, but a few harsh moans or cries suggested that this was were people came to have some more personal fun.

At the end of the hall was a larger, two-person door with a burly woman next to it. She watched the little party approach with a skeptical look. "The Three Stooges are back again. And you actually brought company this time. Still not getting in."

The three minions said nothing, simply parting to allow Dracula through. The vampire stepped up to the woman. "Move. Or be moved."

"Spunky girl, ain't ya?" The woman smiled, revealing all of her teeth were fangs. And now that they were closer, Serenity could see faint tiger-stripes on the woman's cheeks. "Now take that spunk of yours out of here before I show you some real fangs, vamp."

Dracula just smiled and Serenity felt the air shift a bit as the cold, crushing presence she remembered feeling on the yacht those weeks ago coiled around them all. "I don't need fangs to kill you, cat. I'll just rip out your organs and eat those."

The woman laughed from deep in her belly. "You think you can get away with that tough-girl shit here, bitch? This is the Underground. _Quentin Saracen's_ Underground. You try and pick a fight here and we'll be picking you and your friends up with tweezers." The laughter became an unsettling smile. "After we're done putting you through your paces, of course."

"Oh, Saracen's still running the show, is he? How nice." Dracula just kept smiling. "Is he in? I'm sure he'd love to catch up with his old friend, Dracula."

The woman's eyes widened, then narrowed. "You're shitin' me, vamp. Dracula don't need to come here when she's got her own club."

"I do when you have something I want." Dracula nodded at the door. "And it's behind there. And I will have it. But I can go through the door...or over your corpse, weretiger."

The woman matched looks with Dracula for a long, hard moment, then grunted in reluctant acceptance and stepped to the side. "Be my guest. Whatever gets you wet, I guess."

Dracula ignored her, shoving the doors open and striding on through. Serenity followed, the three minions bringing up the rear.

It was a set-up she'd seen hundreds of times during her time as an Eliminator - a small arena raised above floor level, surrounded by dining tables and chairs. This wasn't like the duel outside where they were dueling for show and sport, this was a duel for money. And given how every table was full with a well-dressed people in masks, some dripping in jewelry, it was very serious money. _What's bigger stakes than a tournament title? Taking every last cent of someone else's money._

No one paid she or Dracula any attention as they meandered through the tables, everyone's focus on the two duelists in the arena. One was a waspish woman in nothing but star-spangled pasties and a little tiara identical to the Statue of Liberty on her head. She let out a pained howl as electricity sparked over her and Serenity scowled as she realized that the woman had shock collars on her ankles, wrist and necks.

And standing opposite her was Mai. Except Serenity would have sworn it wasn't Mai. Mai Valentine may have loved to show off her body, but she had never dressed in clothing that was nothing more than a V-shaped strap of material that hid the important bits without really hiding them - it looked like one good attack would snap it off her. The only other things on her were purple stockings, a butterfly mask, shock collars and a punch-drunk smile that Serenity knew only came from a drug high.

" _Looks like Madama Butterfly is giving Liberty Lady a solid ringing of her Liberty Bell!"_ The announcer was smooth and sophisticated - not loud to excite the crowd, but to engage them. _"There's still time to change bets, everyone!"_

Vaguely, Serenity could hear Dracula making enquiries of her minions, but she did not care. _She warned me._..she had been bracing herself for this, just as the vampire had prompted, but it was still an icy fist around her stomach. How was this the same Mai that had called her, shaky, desperate and bawling her eyes out down the phone not two weeks ago? _She warned me..._ what was it she had said? _'I'm not the same'_.

She had expected that. Mai was well into her seventies. She had been expecting any number of changes. But not this. _Nothing like this..._

Dracula's minions guided them closer to the arena. There was a pair of bouncers standing in front of the steps and they stiffened as the minions approached - clearly remembering the trio's previous attempts. But their eyes widened as Dracula stepped through the minions and they exchanged glances as the vampire stalked towards them without breaking stride.

They must have not thought it good odds to try and stop her, because they both stepped aside to let Dracula stalk up the steps. She slashed the arena ropes apart with a deft move her hand, ignoring the cries of protest and surprise from the audience as their duel was interrupted. Liberty Lady opened her mouth to speak, but Dracula just gestured without looking and the duelist went tumbling off the stage with a surprised yelp as if an invisible hand had slapped her.

Mai, perhaps sensing something was off about this ruby-eyed woman even through her drug haze, attempted to escape around the vampire. Only to find it cut off as Dracula just...appeared...in her way in less time than it takes to blink.

"You are coming with me now." Dracula informed her bluntly, but whatever response Mai had except to look dumbfounded was lost as the audience erupted again.

"Who the fuck do you think you are, bitch!? Get off the stage!"

"You can't take Madama Butterfly! I paid good money to have my turn with her!"

"You're costing me more than your worth standing up there! Fuck you, vamp!"

"You get off that stage and away from our prize bitch or I will end you!"

" _Silence."_ Dracula's voice cracked through the arguments like a lightning bolt and everything feel so quiet and still that it almost like they'd been frozen in time.

She snapped her fingers and her minions appeared on the stage, ripping open briefcases and hurling the contents into the crowd. It rained stacks of green and Serenity stared in awe as one landed at her feet - a brick of one hundred dollar bills. And Dracula's minions were hurling them out like candy.

"There is your blood money, you pests. May you choke on it." Dracula snapped to the audience and then turned her attention back to Mai. "You are coming with me."

Mai stared at her, then the money before giving the vampire a grin that was half-goofy, half-sultry. "If you got this kind of cash, I'll go wherever you want me to go, vamp." She pressed a hand to Dracula's arm, leaning in a seductive way. "Do whatever you want, too. To whoever you want."

"Mai!" Charging onto the stage herself, Serenity ignored Liberty Lady's cry of protest as she was bowled over again. "It's me!" Ignoring the blazing lights searing into her scalp from above, and the curious stares of the few spectators who had lost interest in the green rain showering down around them, she yanked her Doctor Death mask away and felt her eyes narrow into a glare. _How could you? What_ _possessed_ _you? Who_ are _you?!_

Mai looked up from her efforts to bury Dracula's cleavage in her own and her jaw dropped. She reeled backwards, tears welling up as she shook her head over and over again in denial. "No no no no no…"

"You two can have your emotions later." Dracula seized Mai by the arm, unbothered as Mai struggled to get loose or was already voicing a protest. The vampire locked eyes with her and Serenity watched as Mai's pupils shrank to prinpicks before the blonde slumped over limp against Dracula's arm. The vampire torn the shock bands off with apparently no effort at all and then scooped up Mai bridal-style. "Doctor, we're leaving. Now."

Serenity opened her mouth to protest, both Dracula's commanding tone and the manner in which she was treating Mai, but then thought better of it as she felt her hackles rise. Around the stage, while there was still plenty of people grabbing at the money - and fighting over it - more were gathering to block the steps down. And none of them looked happy.

"You can't just throw money at us and take our star attraction away, vamp." One of the ones in front said in a dark voice. "This isn't some fucking playground squabble. That woman is our entertainment and we paid good money to see it."

Then he went stumbling back into the crowd, screaming in pain and clutching at his face. Blood was spurting from his nose and split lips.

Serenity growled from low in her throat, uncaring as Instinct raised her bloodied fists from in front of the crowd. "This woman is my friend, not your whore! If you want entertainment, then why don't I give you a blood bath?"

"You think you can fight us all?" Another voice from the crowd mocked. "Or get away with taking our show?"

"I don't intend to fight you all." Serenity hissed. The Doctor Death mask was back on her face now and she could feel her power raising, like a howling pack of angry wolves sprinting towards the prey that was all these stupid people in front of her. "I'll kill you all instead."

That just caused another round of laughter. "You talk the talk, but I think you can't walk the walk, girl!" A new voice called out. "I've got half a mind to put you on the stage instead of the blonde!"

There were cheers of agreement from the rest of the crowd and Serenity felt a tinge of fear worry itself through her anger. _I don't think I can fight or kill them all. My power isn't enough…_

"That's enough of this, the lot you. Simmer down and shut the hell up." The sandpapery voice cut through the tension like a knife and everyone quickly fell silent as the owner stood up in the far end of the room, in what Serenity assumed to be a VIP booth.

He was gnarled old man, leaning on a ornate cane and nearly bent over. But there was no mistaking the dark commanding presence he had. Or the dozen ogre bodyguards filling up the space behind him like a wall of muscle and magic. "Dracula. It's been awhile since you came to my establishment. Still causing a ruckus, I see."

"It keeps my life interesting, Quentin." Dracula responded evenly.

"You always did march to the beat of your own drum." Quentin gestured with the cane towards the vampire. "Are you causing violence in my club over nothing more than a woman?"

Serenity bristled at the remark, but a cool look from Dracula shut her down. Then the vampire turned to address Quentin. "I take the things that catch my eye. And she has gotten both. So now she is mine, Quentin."

There were angry murmurs from the crowd, but Quentin slammed his cane into the floor and the resulting noise - far louder than it had a right to be - shut them up. He stared at Dracula for a long moment from underneath his thick gray bangs. "That woman isn't mine, Dracula. She was merely a guest who wanted to perform. Her actual master is a man who goes by the name of Chance. And from what I've heard, he doesn't like it when other people take his property."

"So have many others when I've taken what is mine from them. But now all of them are dead." Dracula smiled, revealing her fangs. "And I am not."

Quentin snorted. "I figured. But I owed you fair warning, just the same. Now get out of my club. You're killing the mood."

"You can't let her do this, old man!" Someone protested from the crowd.

"I can and I am. But if you feel you have the right to stop her, go ahead." Quentin waved the remark off with his cane. "I'll be sure to mop up the blood puddle your corpse leaves behind."

There some in the crowd looked like they wanted to try anyway - Serenity could see some of them pulling out knives, others holding what looked like magic wands or even swords.

But no one made a move to stop them. However reluctantly they did so, the crowd parted as Dracula walked through them. Serenity followed her, Instinct skulking about this way and that like a watchdog with her hackles raised and the three minions brought up the rear.

 _This people are ready to kill us because we're taking away entertainment._ Serenity could feel the looks they were getting and knew that most, if not all of them, were scheming revenge of some kind. _They feel so entitled to things that they think they're justified in killing, of treating a living person like they're property._

The thought made her so angry, she felt sick. _This is just like Satellite. They'll take everything from you, give nothing back, use you up and pass you around._

Memories her last twenty years of life threatened to flood her, but she dammed them up with her fury at the crowd. Dracula was right - this was not the time or the place to have an emotional outburst.

In front, the mass of graying blonde in Dracula's arms stirred and Serenity saw Mai's bleary purple eye fix on her. Then it closed with a kind of resigned acceptance and Serenity strained just enough to hear her best friend whisper.

"I'm sorry, 'ren...I'm sorry…"

It was only through sheer willpower that the damn didn't burst right then and there.

"I'm sorry, too, Mai.."

TTTTTTT

 _A/N:_ _It looks like the dice have come up bad for our heroes. And the streak isn't breaking anytime soon._

 _Next chapter, Dracula and Serenity must figure out not only what to do to help Mai, but to deal with the fact Mai has some 'owners' who aren't happy Dracula has poached their property. Meanwhile, Lyrius must make an unlikely alliance in order to combat a new party who want Oblivion even as the mystery of Gospel deepens even further._

 _Next Chapter: Vegas: Double Bluff_


	22. Vegas: Double Bluff

Kintsugi  
By 7th Librarian

 _A/N:_ _I apologize for the lateness of the chapter and hope the length more than makes up for it! Many thanks to my talented editor waifu cat!_

Chapter 22: Vegas: Double Bluff

Andy had never seen the benefits of drinking. But he did now.

Not for the ability to make stupid decisions - Fran's behaviour the previous night proved that. But he would have been grateful for the ability to dull pain in that moment. His head was throbbing and his mouth tasted like cotton. It occurred to him in a stroke of irony that this was probably how Fran's hangover felt.

He tried to draw in a breath, then gagged as the funny taste on his tongue spread to block his mouth and reflexively he jerked upright to find that the cottony taste was literal cotton - he'd been face-down in a sweater.

Carefully, he stood and felt weight slid off him to flutter to the floor - more sweaters. He checked himself over and was relieved to find there weren't any major wounds, just aches and pains. _The bus must have crashed into a clothing store -_

It came back in a rush of memory - the brawl aboard the bus, grappling with Weevil, then the rollercoaster ride from hell as the bus flipped like a coin.

He turned, shouldering his way past racks of clothing and kicking aside another pile of sweaters that was in his way. The bus had indeed crashed into a clothing store - the front end of the vehicle had plowed through the shop's main window, spewing glass shards and brickwork everywhere before vomiting out its passengers into the store.

 _It looks like I came through the windshield, but that should have broken my neck. Did something else go through it ahead of me?_ If something had, Andy hoped it was Weevil. He didn't know much about the small, bug-like man, yet all he did know filled him with urge to squash him.

"Ugh - who wears mustard plaid?!"

Hearing Fran's voice, awake and alert, loosened bands he hadn't known were constricting his heart. Breathing a sigh of relief, Andy turned to see her shoving her way out of small pyramid of collapsed flannel shirts and some terribly unfashionable tassel scarves. Shoving more debris out of his way, he launched himself over to her and grabbed her shoulders. "Fran! Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"Just bruises." She said shaking his hands off. "I'm fine. How about you?"

"Nothing but my pride." Andy said, the crunch of glass under their feet sending a shiver down his spine as he realized how close they were to the actual crash site. "I don't think we should gamble while we're in Vegas anymore, though. We probably just used up all our luck surviving this wreck in one piece."

He saw Fran roll her eyes out of the corner of his vision, though he was not sure why. "Where's Solex? Or Lyrius? Have you seen anyone else?"

"No. I haven't seen hide nor hair of anyone else." Andy glanced around at the wreck of the store and the piles of clothes and debris surrounding them. "I'm not even sure where to start looking."

Part of him was not certain that he wanted to. The crash had taken several of the lights out, leaving the whole store bathed in semi-darkness, and throwing several aisles of clothes into shadow. It felt like the perfect place for an ambush, and he was not keen to go digging through the wreckage and playing into their enemy's hands.

He reached for Fran's hand, determined not to lose sight of her again, but she apparently did not share his scruples, marching with a purpose through an overturned table of long sleeved t-shirts towards the tills. "What is it? Did you see someone?"

"No, some _thing_." Shoving the returns rail to one side, she slid up to the counter. Pausing only to grab a leopard print scarf, she wrapped it around her hands and knelt. There was the sound of scrapping metal, a grunt of exertion from her and she re-emerged with _Oblivion_ in her gasp. "Christ, this thing is heavy."

Then she let out a yelp and quickly tossed it onto the counter, shaking out her hands. "And it really doesn't like me!"

Andy couldn't help but stare - the scarf was dissolving away into blackness as if some invisible flame was eating it away and Fran's left palm was a little red. "Damn, Lyrius really wasn't kidding about the protections on it. Makes me wonder how our ancestor's just walked off with it after they beat him the first time - he said they stuck it in a holy stone. Do you think it judged them worthy? I mean they were powerful warriors after all."

"I don't know - maybe destiny did it!" Fran grumbled, throwing up her hands and scowling at her injury. "Who cares what they did? Just help me figure out a way to get it out of here."

Her snappy tone took Andy by surprise, but he pushed it to one side. She was right - this wasn't the place. Gospel, Weevil, Fushioh and Castiel could all have survived the crash, and he still wasn't nuts about the idea of Lyrius getting hold of his sword again either, if he was honest. And they still had to find Solex, or they could kiss their payment goodbye too.

"Let's look around for the case. Maybe it survived the crash. Or we could find something else to put it in. It looks like the sword won't react if you're not directly holding it." He frowned as Fran began rummaging around through the nearest pile of clothes. "Makes me wish we'd taken Solex up on his offer to teach us magic."

"We can ask him when we get out of here," Fran threw jeans over her head as she rooted through the mess for the case. "But for now that won't help us. Hurry up and help me. We don't have a lot of time before the police get here!"

Something about that phrase caught in Andy's mind and he turned it over even as he began to shift through a pile of clothing. Then it clicked and he lifted his head, hoping the worry he was suddenly feeling wasn't on his face. "Fran."

"Yeah, what?" She asked over her shoulder, then paused and turned to look at him fully, suddenly aware of the serious expression on his face. "Are you okay? You've got a look on your face."

"The police were chasing the bus - they were right behind us when we wrecked. And I bet a bus going through the storefront set off a ton of alarms." Andy gestured to the mess around them. "So where are they? Where're the ambulances? The crowd of people filming? In fact, where's outside noise at all?"

Fran's eyes widened as she caught onto his train of thought and she cast another worried look around. "You're right - I haven't heard any noises but the two of us…"

"It has to be some kind of magic," Andy said, ignoring the raised eyebrow Fran shot him. "Okay, I know I'm stating the obvious. But I don't think this is the kind of magic anyone on the bus could cast - it's like we're in a separate world. And that kind of spellwork takes time and effort to set up."

"Is this where Fushioh was headed, maybe?" Fran's worried look grew. "Some kind of trap?"

"Maybe. But I'm not sure. It felt like they were trying to get the sword and just get off the bus." Andy said slowly. "I suppose this could have been a back-up plan, but it feels kind of convoluted-"

"Son of a bitch!"

The exclamation drew both of their attention to the wreck, just in time to see Weevil go slamming up against the bus' underside. He was bleeding from a smattering of wounds across his body, but both of his stingers were extended and the glare from behind his cracked glasses was full of rage. "That all you got, boogeyman? Huh!?"

Andy and Fran followed his gaze, the hole the bus made wide enough to see out well into the street. Standing in the empty street was a towering armored figure, at least seven feet tall with hellishly red flames venting from the holes and head of the suit. It let out deep roar, the noise reverberating in the hollow body before it leaned down. Both Andy and Fran flinched as a fireball exploded against the pavement, quicking becoming a stream of flames as the monstrosity advanced on its target.

"That's a Helmed Horror!" Andy moved to put himself between it and Fran - not that would do much good. If that thing spewed a fireball in their direction, they'd both be toast. "Where'd it come from!?"

"And what it's fighting?" Fran said, a look of dawning horror on her face. "If it's Solex, there's no way he'll survive that!"

Cement cracked as the Helmed Horror staggered suddenly, the flames arcing skywards as whatever it was fighting was landed a powerful uppercut to it. Sounds of metal being hammered began to fill the street, the metal monster giving ground with each barrage of blows. It clasped both hands above its head, bringing them down in a double-fisted blow that looked like it could have split a head like an overripe pumpkin.

Instead, a shockwave of flame and darkness ringed outwards as the blow stopped down halfway as the target apparently blocked it. A snarling battle cry followed, then the sounds of metal being forcibly wrenched out of shape. The Horror staggered backwards as one of its arms twisted, then snapped at the elbow. Magma-like flame gouted from the damaged limb but didn't bother the construct as it launched another blow at its target.

Andy stared in a mix of horror and awe as the black-shrouded figure the thing was fighting caught the fist in one palm, then seized the wrist. The construct was summarily lifted from the ground over the figure's head to be slammed in the street. And then again. And then again, each time cracking both cement and armor from the force of the impacts. "What the hell!?"

"In my experience, things that can do that do come from Hell." Fran said, wrenching her eyes from the fight to start urgently shoving around the store. "Come on, we have to find something to put _Oblivion_ in and get out of here before that fight makes it over here!"

"Right!" Andy began to do the same, kicking aside piles of clothes and shoving the spilled racks away. "Could we just wrap it up in a big pile of clothes and tie something to it, like a hobo pack?"

An ear-splitting crash, followed by the worst nails-on-chalkboard noise Andy had ever heard drowned out Fran's reply. He turned, jaw dropping as he realized the Helmed Horror had been thrown into the bus hard enough the bus had slid a few feet.

The construct's metal body was bent and twisted, fist-sized holes decorating it as more flames leaked out of it. Andy knew that the construct couldn't feel pain or concern for its own life, but he swore it had to be feeling agony from the damage it was taking. It lumbered free of the bus, each heavy movement an apparent struggle to perform.

"Magnificent! Marvelous! I can't believe it!" An excited voice rang out, Andy briefly recognizing as it belonging to Fushioh. To his surprise, a skull with a few vertebrae attached drifted down into view to bob alongside the Helmed Horror.

 _He's a lich._ Andy felt his heart drop into his stomach. This little retrieval mission was rapidly becoming out of his and Fran's depth. Between the vampires, the bus, the construct and now one of the most dangerous undead beings in existence, he was rapidly becoming as useful as a umbrella in a hurricane.

Fran's slight hitch of breath from behind told him she was thinking along the same lines and he reached back, feeling her hand slid into his for a reassuring squeeze.

"You, sir, are exactly what I have been looking for!" Fushioh was still crowing as the Helmed Horror stood up straight it. It plunged the good hand into its spewing elbow. It emerged clutching a longsword made of its magma flames, a dangerous hiss filling the air as the weapon cooled into a gleaming, razor-edged blade. "Show me your potential!"

There was no response from their opponent, but Andy still felt his skin crawl and Fran squeeze his fingers in a death-grip as pressure crawled over their bodies. It was malevolent and blood-thirsty, to the point Andy could feel his instincts kicking into the flight portion of 'fight or flight'.

Then the figure came into view and he felt his mouth go dry in fear. "Lyrius…"

If anything proved his belief that Lyrius was an inhuman monster, this was it. Shadow-like miasma surrounded the man, spilling off him in ragged waves as his hair flowed like liquid darkness with every motion. Veins bulged out grotesquely, criss-crossing his reddish skin. And treating all of that like a backdrop was the two spheres of pure white anger that were his eyes.

With a roar, the Helmed Horror lunged with its new weapon. But moving faster than a human had a right to, Lyrius twitched aside of the blow and caught the weapon's reverse side. Lips curling in a feral, sneering smile, he karate-chopped the sword in two with a single blow. Flipping his grip on the blade, he jumped and drove it into the Horror's face. The construct let out a bellow of real pain as he began to wrench and twist it, dragging the broken weapon further down the metal body to split it open like it was a can of tuna.

 _He looks just like the Shadow Queen._ Andy felt his mouth go dry as images of his duel with her, the duel with Stan and Fran he'd been forced to watch flashed through his mind. The cold power radiating from her, stealing away heat and life like some kind of reverse sun. The wicked, triumphant laugh that haunted his sleep.

Breathing was suddenly far too hard - he had to gulp down air, throat straining against the overwhelming pressure spilling from Lyrius. _It feels like he's strangling me!_

The world swam, his perspective arcing badly and he realized he'd fallen to his knees. He tried to rise, tried to stand and found no strength in the limbs. He blinked and nearly screamed in horror - in the brief moment it had taken the act, the total darkness he'd been expecting had been filled with the sneering smile of the Shadow Queen, her pupiless stormcloud eyes still managing to be condescending and mocking.

Those ruby lips moved, a whispered taunt. One that still crushed his heart and strangled his courage like a python even five years later.

 _You failed, Andy Markova._

A perfect hand, cool on his cheek, mockingly sympathetic and yet he couldn't tear his gaze away from that regal visage filling his view. She was still smiling and turned his head forcefully.

Fran was half-sagged on the counter, struggling to breath and her face far too-pale. Sweat was running down her skin, plastering strips of her blonde hair to her scalp. The look in her eyes was too distant, wetness welling up in the corners. Fear exuded from her almost to the point of visibility.

He could hear the sounds of combat outside, metal rending and earth-shaking blows being exchanged as Fushioh laughed like a child on Christmas. But they were distant, muffled. The only constants were his burgeoning fear, the choking caress of Lyrius' power and the voice in his ears.

 _Powerless Andy. They call you a hero, but what did you do? Sat in a cell while your friends did all the work._ A jeering laugh that sank cold into his bones. _She suffers, Andy, because you_ _were weak_ _. Because you and your destiny amounted to nothing at all. Because you are nothing._

Words of protest pushed against the pressure crushing his throat, but they were too weak and feeble to break free. A sob wracked Fran and Andy found himself reaching for her, trying to squeeze her hand to give her strength, but she was so, so far away. His arm felt like lead. Panic welled, but gave no respite as it crashed against the walls of his fear. He was going to fail again and there was nothing, nothing at all that could be done-

"I'll take that, bitch!"

The world snapped back into clarity in a dizzying kaleidoscope spin as something slammed into his shoulder. He caught a brief flash of green, moth-like hair and finally found his voice. _"_ Fran! It's Weevil!"

Fran must have already seen the small bug-man coming, because she had started reacting before he'd even finished shouting. She ripped a clothes rail off the wall behind her, landing a perfect grand slam against Weevil's face. He went spinning into one of the few standing display racks to vanish under a pile of chiffon stripes.

Andy was on his feet, charging as Weevil tore himself free of the pile. The height difference was too great to risk tackling the smaller man without getting himself gored on those stingers; Andy instead fisted Weevil's hair and yanked him down as his knee came up. There was a satisfying crunch and he followed up by roundhouse to the chest that shoved Weevil back into the clothes.

But Weevil was scowling, only a few trickles of blood from his nose even as he reached up and cracked it back into shape. "Get the hell out of my way, light-weight!"

He seized two handfuls of clothing, purple-black flames erupting from his hands and igniting the garments. Andy scrambled backwards as Weevil began to hurl a barrage of flaming clothing at him, staggering as he threw up his arms to avoid a shirt to the face - only for Weevil to hook one of his stingers behind his leg and yank. Pain shot up the limb from the cut and then Andy saw stars as his head collided with the counter.

Burning clothes collapsed after him, muffing the word and choking him with smoke. But they didn't hide the sounds of Fran and Weevil's battle - glass breaking, metal striking flesh and a few snarls of pain from Weevil. For a moment, even as he struggled to free himself, Andy found himself hoping that Fran would beat Weevil and then they could get the hell out of here. He'd seen his girlfriend lift a D-Wheel over her head without straining too hard, surely the roach that was Weevil wouldn't be that much more difficult to-

Her scream of pain sent his thoughts crashing to a halt and he tore himself free of the clothes, uncaring of the burning embers or licks of flame on his own clothing. Fran was crumpled to her knees, both hands over one eye with plenty of blood running down her face and leaking between her fingers.

Rage swelled in Andy and he grabbed the counter to haul himself up, the world shrinking to a snickering Weevil. The bug duelist caught sight of Andy's expression and must have found it hilarious, because he let off a chittering, nasal laugh and crashed both of his stingers against each other. "C'mon! You wanna be a _hero_?"

Andy's hand found something on the counter - cool, styled metal and his fingers curled around it tightly. It was _Oblivion_ , but grabbing it didn't bring any pain. Only strength flowed into him as he hefted the blade. The way it settled into his palm, the way it felt, the oil-like rainbow glimmer over weapon's surface; all of it felt right. All of it was right for him.

He could almost hear the weapon whispering at him: _'I am the sword of a hero.'_

Weevil's eyes widened behind his glasses, then narrowed. "You think you're tough shit with that, scrub?"

Andy gripped _Oblivion_ in both hands, felt the weapon's power flow through him like it was whispering encouragement.

And charged.

TTTTTTTT

Castiel wasn't used to finding himself worried about other people.

The bus' crash had catapulted him up into the side of a building and he'd managed to hang on long enough to scramble inside a window just as the police and first responders pulled up. No one had seen him and so it was perfect vantage from which to watch as the little humans scurried over the bus like a swarm of ants and tried to find people who weren't there.

Which is what was worrying him. From the looks of things, Weevil and Fushioh had been thrown away from the direction he'd gone - probably from the second impact as the bus slid through the storefront. The crash shouldn't have killed either of them - Fushioh's bones were tougher than most metals and the vampire suspected that even as an ordinary human Weevil had the survival skills of a cockroach. So the lack of their presence was troubling.

More so was the reason for it - he glanced at the teal marble in his palm, a soft, glowing light rotating in it like a lighthouse. Aiming it out the window, careful not to let any humans see it in the darkness of the morning, he let the light play out near the bus crash.

It didn't even reach the crash itself - the light just briefly illuminated edge of am otherwise invisible dense fog. And even the strength of the Orichalcos had its limits as his earlier attempt to punch a hole in it by hurling an Orichalcos stone into it had just had the stone spat back at him.

 _A barrier spell. Powerful, too. And not the kind you can set up on a moment's notice._ Castiel grimaced as he rode that train of thought. _Which means there's another party involved. And they were tracking our little journey on the bus. Which means they had the time and the power to set this spell up, knowing we'd crash in this area._

An enemy that powerful, inside the barrier with Lyrius, that Sun Elf, those two humans and the manic Gospel and his two cohorts. With no way of telling whose side they were on. It was indeed troubling.

Not that he considered the other two beings his friends - Fushioh was a co-worker, respectable and level-headed. And reasonable, without any of those megalomaniacal tendencies that were so common in their ilk. And Weevil...well, he was Weevil and if he were a small, yappy dog, Castiel would be happy to punt him over the nearest fence or two. Yet he'd regret doing so, as if he were losing a source of entertainment, the little bug had become such an enjoyable constant.

There wasn't much he could do right now for either of them. Poking or prodding at the barrier was just a waste of time - he was a vampire, not a magic-user. And the Orichalcos was just point-and-click magic; if it didn't work now, nothing he'd do would make work any better

His phone vibrated, startling him so much he almost dropped it as he fished it out of his pocket. _Didn't think that phone case would be such a good investment if it survives being thrown against a building._

It was a text message - from Fushioh, of all things: _Weevil and myself alive. Trapped. Oblivion should cut through barrier. Will retrieve it, meet you at hotel._

Castiel almost laughed - the lich sounded like was just passing off a reminder for Castiel to get milk on his way home. _Should I prepare an escape for us?_

 _Yes._ _Preferably_ _magical. If not back inside of two hours, call Fallgar to inform him of situation._

A pause, then the phone blipped as Fushioh quickly sent another text message.

 _Do not forget to feed Joka._

Castiel's eyebrow lifted, not sure if Fushioh was being legitimate or joking. Then some flashlights danced over his window, forcing him to duck back against the wall. And there noises that suggest the police were expanding their search to this building. He briefly considered slaughtering his way out and feasting on some blood, but no was not the time to draw attention to himself.

Moving to a far window, he opened it and slid out, leaping up the fire escape and onto the next rooftop at a dead run. And hoped a little to himself that Fusioh and Weevil did manage to get back in those two hours.

TTTTTT

If pressed, Serenity would admit she had probably been hyping up her reunion with Mai a little too much. It had been something she'd daydreamed about for years, with scenarios ranging from rescuing Mai from supervillains from a drunken, all-out, hair-pulling brawl in Rex's bar. But all of them had shared the commonality that at the end of it all, Mai was still her friend.

Except in all of her little daydreams, Serenity had forgotten to factor in that Mai was the most stubborn people she'd ever met. "Will you _please_ put on some clothes, Mai!?"

"I said 'no', dammit!" Mai snapped back. The blonde was curled up on the couch, Dracula's borrowed bathrobe failing spectacularly at covering her up. Her deck was spread out on the coffee table before her, Mai shuffling through a stack of cards. "I'm fine like this!"

"We pull you out of a horrible situation, drugged up on Shadowkind pot, with an audience that wanted to _kill_ us because you were the star attraction and you just sit around the living room naked like its your lazy day off!" Serenity was beside herself with exasperation. "Mai, what is wrong with you?!"

"Do you want a general synopsis or should I give you a numbered list?"

Serenity bit back the retort that if Mai was going to give her a list, number one should be 'I abandoned my best friend to die on an island after she lost a limb'. Though she genuinely wished for an explanation from Mai about that, now was not the time. Losing her temper any further was just going make everything worse, not better.

Instead, she sat down on the couch across from Mai and took a deep breath before letting it out slow. "Mai, I don't understand. Why are you suddenly so argumentative with me? On the phone, you sounded just as happy and relieved as I was to learn you were alive."

"And I told you, you don't want to see me!" Mai huffed back, gesturing at Serenity with her stack of cards like it was a weapon. "And I was right!"

Serenity's mouth dropped open, hurt and surprise warring over the rest of her face. "Excuse you!? I have been waiting years to see you again!"

"Then what was that look back in the Underground?" Mai growled. "Don't try to deny it - I may have been high, but I still saw it!"

Serenity's temper strained against its leash. "What did you expect!? I thought you were in danger or worse once Dracula found you there! And you were selling yourself for drugs! Nothing but...but a toy for the audience! A fantasy!"

"And how's that any different from what _you_ want, 'ren? Weren't you expecting one of Tea's friendship moments?" Mai's accused, her eyes narrowing as Serenity flinched and the older woman held up an arm to real pockmarks and scars. "In case you hadn't noticed, the years haven't been kind to me! I do what I have to to survive."

The leash was stretched to the limit now and Serenity fought to keep it from snapping. She held up her own metal arm. "And I haven't? I've lost a lot, too, Mai! And you don't see me doing what you did!"

Mai laughed bitterly. "Really? 'Cause you're the one here as tight and as perky as you were when you were twenty, sister! You've been dipping to magic as a beauty package, too!"

"You're one to talk! You're seventy eight, but the only way anyone could tell is by the gray in your hair!" Serenity huffed, find a way to vent some of her temper without decking Mai across the face as her gaze settled on what Mai was putting on display. "And those breasts are fake!"

"They sag when you get older. Bit of a medical fact for you, _doctor_. And when you make a living out of being the center of attention, you need to look the part."

"You told me you'd never get implants!"

"Things change, Serenity! People change!" Mai fired back darkly, returning her gaze to the scattered cards in front of her. "Not all of us had your luck over the last few years. Some of us had to survive."

"You selfish bitch!" Serenity couldn't believe it herself; it was like the woman in front of her was a complete stranger. She had to be - Mai would have never just been so casually dismissive and cruel. "You think - you think I had it fucking _easy_?"

Serenity stood up, though whether to slap Mai across the face or storm out of the room to calm was up for debate. Mai gave her a bland glance up her upturned eyes and Serenity's metal fist whined in protest as it began to clench tight far beyond its recommended parameters. Then Mai suddenly leaned back in her seat, eyes wide as a snarling, furious Instinct sprang into existence and lunged for her with arms outstretched to clamp around her throat.

The familiar never made, halting dead in the air and clawing uselessly at it before Serenity could even realize that Instinct was trying to kill her friend. Dracula had a firm grip on the construct's collar, glancing between the two women with a smirk. "You humans are just so entertaining - two best friends, reunited after years of painful separation and you're trying to kill each other within fifteen minutes. Just marvelous, really."

"Stay out of this, Dracula." Serenity groused, but the vampire's presence had doused most of her temper. Instinct faded back into the ether with an exertion of her will and the redhead sat back down in a huff. "This isn't your problem."

"Mmm, but it is. You see, I was the one who retrieved your friend from the Underground-"

"I didn't need to be rescued, I was there on purpose!"

"-and now it is you two who are filling my hotel room with the most amazing tension. To the point where the only guest here whose behaving is your cat." Dracula pointed a slender finger into Mai's lap. Therapy was curled up there, a ball of blonde fur and purring deeply, lost in a serene sleep despite the argument going on around her.

"What about Resonae?" Serenity asked.

"She left a while ago, rather put out Lyrius wasn't taking her on his little retrieval mission and said something about visiting the circus in town. I'd like to believe she wishes to become an act in it, but more than likely, she's visiting the horses." The vampire, apparently satisfied that the two women weren't going to kill each other, moved over to the liquor bar and began mixing herself up a drink.

Then, almost as an afterthought, she paused, held up her hand and snapped her fingers. There were little 'whooshes' of flame from around the room and Serenity blinked, then wrinkled her nose as the smell of incense tickled her nostrils briefly.

And along with the incense - she sniffed again, then deeper - a few more competing scents. Some sweet, others rich, some kind of fruity tang. And it was coming from -

Serenity glanced down at the cards on the table, then up at Mai with an accusatory frown. "You're doing your aroma-tactics again?"

Mai scowled back. "I told you, I do what I have to survive. If a little cheating helps me win, I'm fine with that."

Somehow, the fact that Mai was openly cheating again hurt worse than anything else before it. "Joey would be disappointed in you, Mai."

"Well, Joey's not here, is he?" Mai shot back and went back to her cards. "And it looks you're being disappointed enough for the both of you, so why don't take it and shove it - ow! You stupid cat!"

Therapy had awoken during the exchange and apparently not liking either incense or the perfumes, had hissed and sunk her claws into Mai's legs. The blonde jerked, her angry swat missing as the cat jumped onto the table and then into Serenity's lap. Therapy hissed again and hunkered up against her owner's stomach.

"What has gotten into you, girl?" Serenity demanded, grabbing the scruff of her neck in case Therapy decided Mai needed another clawing.

"Probably the same thing that has gotten into you - too much work, not enough play." Dracula pulled Serenity up by her arm, cat and all before giving her a gentle push towards the door. "Since arguing is not getting you anywhere, why don't you go downstairs and have a few drinks? Just put it on my tab."

"What? Are you mad?" Serenity stared at the vampire like she'd grown a second head. "I'm not leaving Mai!"

"There is no reason to worry, doctor. Mai is not going to disappear or run off back to the Underground. I have expended far too much effort in claiming this prize to just let her slip away." Dracula ignored Serenity's protests and in short order, the doctor found herself out in the hallway with a cat in her arms and the door locking soundly behind her. "You are not to come back until you cannot spell 'forever'!"

"Lyrius told you about that!?"

TTTTTT

Dracula waited until she had heard Serenity's distinctive gait vanish down the hallway and the elevator doors ding closed before turning around to address her remaining guest. "Well, now, that just leaves you and me, doesn't it?"

"I guess it does." Mai was watching her with a certain wariness as Dracula swept over and seated herself on the place Serenity. "What, you want to feeling share now, too?"

"Hardly." Dracula smiled thinly. "But what I would like to address is those lovely perfumes you've got on your cards."

"I cheat. So what?"

"No, you do not cheat." Dracula held up a chiding finger. "You were working in a Shadowkind establishment. Many species have a sense of smell superior to a human's. They'd have noticed your little gimmick in short order and even for a crowd paying to see you ride your Duel Disk in the worst possible way, they have some sense of propriety."

"What are you getting at?" Mai demanded, but there was a little hesitance in her violet eyes that left Dracula smiling more.

"Perfume, as I'm sure you know, is used to hide scents. Sweat, exertion, dirt, grime and so forth." Dracula reached out and plucked up one of Mai's Harpie Ladies from the table. "Rosewood."

She grabbed another and then a few more. "Oh, and drakeweed. Gindlefelt. White-Capped Death. Aspertine. Crushed irricale leaves."

By now, she was holding the collected cards in front of her, staring at Mai over top them. "By themselves, not much to speak of. Though Drakeweed can be rather pungent if it's not dried. But take them all together and you can create rather nasty, painful poison called Grave Kiss."

Mai was quiet, but her fingers were tightening on her knees.

"Your skin blotches, your eyes swell and tears of blood trickle free as it coats the inside of your throat and slowly suffocates you due to your inability to breath. But all that happens to living beings who are dosed with it. Grave Kiss is unique among poisons because we vampires invented it to kill each other." Dracula ran her fingertips over the cards. "To we undead, it can rot us. Dampen the unlife in us, leaving us nothing more than withered, crumbling husks of beings. Death embraces us at last."

She took a deep breath, watching as Mai's eyes widened and then folded up the cards, tearing the stack in half with a minimum of effort. A second later, the were nothing but ash as flames ignited in her palms. "A truly clever plan, really. The best kind of assassination - the target doesn't know they're the target until it is too late. Though such a real shame that the assassin tends to die from the poison, too."

Dusting her hands off, she chuckled darkly. "A pity that I already protected myself from the effects by inhaling some this lovely incense I travel with. It neutralizes any airborne poisons."

"You only just lit them." Mai protested weakly.

"In this room, yes, but I did not just spend thirty minutes in my bedroom sleeping." Dracula smiled with her fangs and her ruby eyes glittered malevolently. "Now, Miss Valentine, you're going to tell me who this 'Chance' person is and why he thinks he can get away with killing me."

TTTTTT

" _Am I in the room?"_

"What room!?"

" _The room where he's casting all these spells!"_

"He hasn't cast anything yet, Larry!"

" _Well, I wanna cast 'Magic Missile. Like I've been saying for the last five minutes."_

Joka stared down at the cell phone and its open Skype Call with a venom usually reserved for small bugs, loud politicians and the person who took the last jelly donut from the box. "Why are you casting 'Magic Missile!'? There's nothing to attack!"

" _I'mma attackin' the Darkness, Joka! Geeze!"_

"You can't attack the darkness, Jerry! It's not a thing!"

" _Yeah it is. See, I'm thinking the darkness in the room, is like, um, representative of the metaphysical darkness that we all carry in us. Just on the outside, see? And as Galstaff, Sorcerer of Light, I can purge it by blowing it up and illuminating the room!"  
_

Joka stared at the phone, then grumbled in reluctance. "This is what I get for playing while he's high again...Go ahead and roll for it."

There was the sound of clattering dice through the speaker and then Larry's voice piped up again. _"Hey, I'm in the room, right?"_

"No, Larry! You're in the tavern, getting drunk!"

 _"Oh."_ A pause. " _How drunk?"_

"I don't know, you're just drunk!"

" _But how drunk? See, am I drunk enough that a hot tavern wench looks super hot and I'm gonna score 'cause the booze makes me talk great or am I drunk enough I'm gonna just barf?"_

"You're drunk enough to have a good time, Larry! There - we've established how drunk you are! Happy?"

" _Yeah, man, yeah, no more questions."_ Another pause. _"So is there a hot tavern wench or-_ "

A series of knockings interrupted the conversation and Joka rattled out a sigh of relief. "Gotta go, guys. My new body's here. Same time next week?"

There was chorus of agreements from the other two and a - _"Remember, I'm attacking the darkness!"_ \- from Jerry before the call ended.

The knocking came again and Joka grunted. "Hey! It's unlocked, dimwit! Just come on in!"

The door opened, allowing a large rectangular package to be wheeled in on a dolly. "Package for a Mister Joka?"

"Right here, Igor." Joka cackled with delight as the package set down next to the island. "Thanks for the rush job!"

"No problem, Joka." Shambling around the package was a squat lump of a man who looked like he'd been trapped in a steel press just long enough to warp his spine. Yet it made him look oddly endearing with his green uniform and tidy little cap. "Would like to sign for the package now?"

"Yeah, sure, with the two arms I don't have!" Joka snapped at him.

"Just doing my job, sir." Igor smirked toothily. "Don't fall to pieces on me."

"Hey, Igor!" Joka's head jerked as his eyes flashed. "If I had arms, what kind of gesture would I be giving you?"

"I would think you have a whole flock of birds now, Joka." Igor dissembled the packaging, revealing a metallic body underneath. "You remember we charge extra for delivery and assembling, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know, just put it on my tab!"

A short while later, Igor had finished attaching Joka's head to the body's neck. The body whirred and clicked as Joka moved it out, testing the limbs. "Aw, that's the stuff right there! Good to be tall again!"

He clanked free of the restraints, flexing one of his fingers and then rattled out an angry noise. "Igor, what gives? Where's my weapons? What's the load out on this thing?"

"Nothing." Igor shrugged. "You can't just mass-produce cyber bodies, we hand-build each one."

"This one feels like shit and spare parts!" Joka snapped, whirling to flip Igor the bird. Only to twitch as that finger popped free and clattered to the floor.

"It is spare parts. You asked for a rush job." Igor tipped his hat and sauntered away. "Have a nice day, Joka."

"Oh, screw you, pal!" Joka hissed static through his mouth and then grabbed his phone, flipping a webpage open. "Fine, Fushioh going off on a treasure hunt and Igor stiffing me on my body, I'll just get some work, some cash and some new toys!"

A minute of typing and he had access to the Deep Web. "C'mon, let's see, gotta be some quick-and-easy kills here in Vegas! Or someone needing to be robbed; place is crawling with idiots!"

His mechanical eyes flashed in curiosity as he caught one of the listings. It had been posted just a couple of hours before and was a cool million alive, with an extra million if the two secondary targets were brought in as well. "Now we're talking. Some blonde bimbo in this hotel right here needs shish-ke-bobing and then I get flamethrower fuel for days!"

Plan in mind, he started for the door, then felt his foot slip out from under him and he crashed into the floor. "Fuck! I just gave myself the finger!"

TTTTTTT

The _Stardust's_ bar was almost a locale in and of itself. Decked out in wood and low-key gold with a heady atmosphere of good times, good drinks and a little magic. The bar area was packed with everything from elves to orcs, a smooth jazz trio working it in the corner stage.

It was the kind of place Serenity would have loved to get drunk in and danced on the tables with, but with her usual partner upstairs mad at her and a lack of Lyrius to watch her take it all off, she was going to have to finding a quiet corner and petting her cat.

Said cat seemed to have finally settled down from upstairs. Now curled up in the crook of Serenity's metal arm, Therapy was nothing more than a content bundle of fluff. Even entering the bar just caused one of her ears to prick and rotate lazily before she closed her eyes again and purred.

She wished it was that easy for her to calm down, but guilt and anger were still duking it out. Guilt for attacking Mai like she had, losing her temper ot the point her instinct had been to hurt the older woman. _She's my friend and needs support_ _right now,_ _but all I could do was judge her. She's so different from what I knew._

Both Joey and Mai had told her about Mai's deal with the Orichalcos, so she knew what could do when pushed. _This Mai, though...it's like she_ _wasn't pushed_ _, she just jumped right off the edge. And now she acts like she doesn't care about me._

And that was there the anger came from. That Mai would just _let_ herself become like she was, that she'd give up her morals and courage just to become another piece of flesh for people to ogle and grope. _Just another junkie looking for a fix, scraping by because trying is too hard._

Her power bristled in response to the anger stirring again as she recalled how flippant Mai had been when she dismissed Serenity's own life. _She thinks I had it easy, but she's the one who abandoned me on Satellite! Who left me there after a monster ripped off my leg! And she just ignores my missing arm like she doesn't even notice!  
_

A warning growl from Therapy caused Serenity to reach down to soothe her ruffled fur - the cat must not have liked the bloodlust leaking from her owner. "Alright, I get the point. I'm here to drink and calm down, not work myself up again."

The bar looked crowded with lunchtime patrons and she was not in the mood to fight bodies for space even if she was armed with her cat. But there were waiters and waitresses moving among the tables and booths, so grabbing a seat and getting their attention seemed to the easier bet.

Especially when a head of moss-green and gray hair caught her own. Serenity stopped dead for a moment as she realized who it was, debated about the risks and then made a decision in the next second. Putting on her best game face, she sauntered over to the booth and swung herself into it opposite it's occupant. "What are you doing here, Castiel?"

Castiel seemed far more startled to see her than she had him - his good eye was wide enough to lift the opera mask covering the other half of his face slightly. A tortilla chip covered in melted cheese, sliced peppers and meat was half to his mouth. "Serenity?"

"No, it's your other sister with the two metal limbs and red hair."

The snark brought him back and he gave her a look. "Don't give me lip - last time I saw you, you were looking old and going all 'murder goth' on me with that mask of yours. What'd you do, get a Potion of Eternal Youth?"

"Don't you know it's rude to talk like that?" Serenity chided him, then smirked at the startled noise he made when she yanked the nacho chip from his hand and ate it. "Oooh, these are gooooooooddd…"

"They're also mine!"

"Hey, you tried to steal my soul! You owe me!" Serenity gave him some doe eyes, then smirked as he sighed and pushed the still-full plate over towards her. "You never could resist those eyes…"

He made a noise of agreement and then sighed, chin in upraised palm. "You realize that I wasn't in my right mind when I was trying to steal your soul, right?"

"Castiel, you murdered a homeless man for Darkness Game and tried to get me to join in your kill-spree. You haven't been in your right mind for decades." She declared, jabbing a finger at him as she grabbed a nacho with the other. "Especially since I only left you with the left side of your face last time."

"Ha. Ha. Ha. Hilarious, sis." The vampire grunted, touching the opera mask reflexively. "But thank you for removing the dependence on the Orichalcos I had. I feel very much more sane now."

"Sane enough to turn yourself over to the authorities for what you've done?"

"Nope." He helped himself to some nachos. "Given the fact you're the one sitting down with the murderous vampire and everything, I'd argue you're the one whose not sane right now."

"One, we're in magical public and given how your getting wary looks, the patrons know you're a vampire. And they don't like that. You try anything and you'll get dogpiled. Two, I am a lot stronger than I was on Duelist Kingdom and I will rip you a new asshole in a fight. Three, Dracula's in the building."

Castiel jumped, then swore under his breath. "Dracula is here?" He cast his gaze towards the ceiling, as if the other vampire might just drop out of the darkness on him.

"She's busy at the moment, but don't worry, I'm sure she'll find time to step on a little bottom-feeder like you." Serenity made to lick some sauce off her finger, but the feeling of a rough little tongue on her finger tips told her Therapy had beat her to it. "Now what you doing here?"

"I was trying to enjoy a drink and some nachos." Castiel muttered under his breath and rolled his eye when Serenity gave him a look. "Hey, that's the truth. I don't have to tell you anything else."

Serenity grunted in annoyance at his logic, venting her frustration on another nacho heaped-up with goodies. "You were never good at the brooding and mysterious schitck, brother. I know you're trying to be all magical secrets and 'I am the night!' vampire. But honestly, you look like a rejected extra from the cast of a drag queen show."

Castiel stared at her for a second, then sighed and leaned back in his seat. "Alright, what crawled up your butt and died, Serenity? You only ever get like this when you're pissed off and don't want to express it like normal people."

For some reason, the comparison to 'normal people' caused a surge of anger in her, accompanied by a sneer and a cold glare at her step-brother. "Let's start with the fact you drank my fucking blood, knowing I was your goddamn sister!"

Whatever he'd been expecting her to say, that clearly wasn't as his expression morphed into stunned surprise that that became remorse and sorrow just as fast as he glanced at the table. "I wasn't in my right mind when I did that. I knew you were my sister, but that thought seemed so far away when I had a source of blood in front of me. Blood filled with powerful magic and the Orichalcos whispering in the back of my head, demanding souls. So close to something that could fill the void inside of me…"

He had his head resting in both hands now, a genuine crack in his voice. "For what's it worth, I'm sorry I did that to you. I'm so sorry…"

Now it was Serenity's turn to be stunned. Her brother had always been confident and ruthless even when they were little and their duel had shown that he hadn't changed in the intervening decades. To hear Castiel apologize at all was as rare as Seto Kaiba had been with 'Thank yous'.

And her heart knotted a bit when she caught sight of dampness on the table. "Are you crying?"

"Yes." He didn't look up from the table or try to hide the tears.

There was an awkward silence, broken only by Therapy poking her head above the table ledge and snagging one of the abandoned nachos with a paw.

"I couldn't believe it when I heard the Japanese government declare you as dead in the wake of Zero Reverse." Castiel said after few more heartbeats. "I tried everything to bring you back. I paid clerics to perform resurrections, I tried necromancy, I even shelled out for some golem maker to build a new body so I could call your soul back from the beyond into it."

"You tried to bring me back to life?" Serenity, despite it all, found herself a little touched that he cared enough to such lengths. And a lot more worried the longer she thought about it. "Why?"

"The same reason I gave you fifty years ago during our Shadow Game." Castiel lifted his head, expression sad. "You're the only one who understands what it's like to be in my head."

When she was silent after a pause of a few heartbeats, he continued. "You're more than my sister, Serenity. You're my best friend. The time we spent together were some of the best years of my life and I finally felt safe to be me around you."

"Safe to be a monster, a killer, a sadist." Serenity shook her head. "I chose a different path, Castiel. I let my urges serve that which is most good in me, not that which is most base."

"Our therapist thought he was pretty clever with that stupid line." The corner of his mouth dipped, but there was still an undercurrent of sadness there. "It's such a human thing to think you can box in what a person truly is with some words and some love."

"Then why did you try and revive me when you thought I was dead if that's such a 'human' thing? I thought you abandoned your humanity - you said as much in our duel." Serenity said pointedly. "And did you really think I'd join you just because you brought me back from the dead?"

"No, at least not willingly. But forcing you to join me with magic defeats the point." He shook his head. "Serenity, all those years in therapy, the weekly visits from the police and news, neighbors crossing the street to avoid our family, mom and dad arguing over whose kid was the 'fuck-up'. Do you really think we deserved to go through that? Just because we did something we liked?"

"We killed innocent creatures." The response was immediate and Serenity hid her wince at how reflexive it sounded.

It didn't escape him, either. "You liked it."

"Yes. I did." It was amazing how much guilt saying those three words swamped her with - a tidal wave threatening to crush her spirits. And it was equally amazing how the next three words just evaporated that threatening wave like it was morning dew. "I still do."

A glint of light off of one of the gold decorations caught her eye and Serenity thought back to her earlier argument. What would Mai think if she heard Serenity talk like that? Mai had been one of the most accepting and supportive people even after learning Serenity's past, praising her courage at turning something so dark into a positive.

The necklace around her neck was suddenly icy-cold against her skin, the gentle press of the teardrop ruby a sharp edge against the hollow of her throat. Her magic brushed up against her heart like deadly silk. _Maybe Mai was right. People do change to survive. They change into whatever they have to._

A smile spread Castiel's face, enough so she could see a hint of a fang. "Let me ask you something, little sister. You spent fifty years being a doctor and channeling all of your sadism and love of blood and organs and pain into helping other people. So why then, would you fly in the face of all that-" He pointed to her necklace. "-and take the power of the Shadow Queen for yourself? Why would you call upon a monster's power?"

The familiar dynamic of a brother/sister confrontation prompted Serenity to fold her arms. "To do just that - to _help_ people. To not be a burden on...anyone." She stumbled as she realised just what she had been about to say. _Lyrius._ She hadn't wanted to be a burden on Lyrius. She hadn't been willing to embrace her darkness for her brother. But she'd happily done it for him, and the thought made her flush.

"Would you look at that - your pretty face matches your hair." Castiel's smirk took on a teasing edge. "Are you daydreaming about your handsome necromancer boyfriend?"

"Shut up," the instinctive response made her feel like a kid again, trying to avoid a fight she knew she was going to lose.

"Hey, there's no shame in it. From what Fushioh tells me, the man's got enough darkness and blood in his past for a dozen books. I mean, the guy survives a town being invaded by demons, goes straight for the magical sorcerer queen, skewers out her heart and then _eats_ it to marry her." He took a rather smug pull of his drink, watching as Serenity's blush grew. "No lie - that's really hot. I can see why you'd want to do him."

He tapped his chin in mock thought. "Though, you know, he did deny it on the bus just now." He leaned on his elbow, snaring one of the remaining nachos. "Tell it to me straight, sis - are you having a lovers spat?"

"Why the hell do you care?" Serenity would have given anything to disappear in that moment. "Was vetting all my boyfriends in middle school and stealing the hot ones for yourself not enough for you?"

Castiel shrugged. "I just want to gauge my odds of running into a hot broken-hearted man who might be looking for some rebound sex."

Serenity bristled, feeling the weight of her mask slip into place and her electric-blue lips curled back into a feral snarl. Therapy promptly abandoned her lap to hop onto the table with a full-body wriggle like she was shaking something off herself. "Keep your dirty fangs off of my love or I'll rip them out and shove them through your eyes!"

Castiel just smiled. "Ooh, you are crushing _so_ hard with those murder-feels. But I know if you _were_ dating, you'd have just smiled and told me the only heart being broken would be mine. That means he's up for grabs."

She growled, a dark noise coming from her throat. "Go get your own boyfriends! Lyrius is mine!"

"Oh, don't be such a cock-block. You're just bitter because you know I'm right." The vampire laughed as she growled again, leaning back in his seat. Then he frowned, cocking his head to gaze at something on her right. "Just what is that and why is it giving me the finger?"

Serenity flicked a glance over in the direction he was looking - Instinct was curled up in the corner of the booth, clearly sulking and flipping Castiel off. "That's my familiar. It's name is Instinct."

She was _not_ going to tell her brother that Instinct responded only to her subconscious and judging from how petulant Instinct looked, her subconscious had accepted the fact Castiel was right about Lyrius not being hers.

Thankfully, Castiel didn't seem to pick up on her frustration. He just nodded slowly and then pointed to the space between them. "And this?"

Glancing down, Serenity saw that Therapy had taken advantage of their distract to leap up on to the table and bury her face into the plate of nachos, tail swishing as she chowed down. Serenity repressed a giggle, but was unable to stop Instinct from cooing. "That's Therapy. She's our emotional support animal."

Such an honest indication of weakness seemed to take Castiel off guard, and he blinked several times, before flicking his eyes down to the table again. "...should she be eating those?"

"Yes, because you're paying for them! And the next plate, too!"

Castiel sighed. "Yes, sister dear."

TTTTTT

Weevil was fast, ducking under Andy's beheading swing. He came up with stingers leading the way, ready to gut him.

Andy threw himself back, felt the air whiff on his face from the near-miss and then brought the sword up in a ready position, hilt at his navel with the tip pointing away from himself.

Weevil was cackling, flame igniting in his hands and crawling down the stingers until they were twin arcs of black magic. He charged, limbs scything away like a demented deverish, slashing through clothing and debris like they weren't even there. Sparks scattered with each blow until it looked like it was raining fire around the smaller man.

Andy knew he should have felt afraid, but all there was was a sense calm superiority. Confidence that this threat could be dealt with. _Oblivion_ seemed to be guiding his instincts, letting him predict where Weevil's swings were going to come without having to see them. He took two quick steps forwards to stagger Weevil's charge, then the sword flicked twice in a black blur.

Weevil staggered forwards as his arms encountered none of the expected existence, stingers cut off just above his hands and flying off to be lost among the clothing. Andy's knee caught him in the face and as Weevil reeled, _Oblivion_ flicked out again.

Yet Weevil must have had some bug-like instincts of his own because he corkscrewed away from the blow that should have sliced into his chest. Landing in a crouch, he lashed out with one leg to sweep Andy's feet out from under him. Andy jumped, letting out a huff as Weevil launched like a coiled spring to tackle him out of the air.

They crashed into a pillar, Weevil grappled with Andy to keep the sword from coming into play. Andy may not have had the strength to overpower Weevil, but he had height and leverage. Both came to bear as they struggled, Andy forcing Weevil to a knee as _Oblivion_ crept ever closer to the bug duelist's face.

At least until Weevil stopped resisting, Andy stumbling and then screaming as Weevil yanked his wrist close and sank his teeth into it. Suddenly nerveless fingers nearly dropped his sword, but Andy somehow managed to find the strength to hang on and start pummeling Weevil's exposed neck with his fist.

The thrashing worked, dislodging Weevil and Andy smashed _Oblivion's_ hilt into his face. Blood spurted from Weevil's nose and then his chest; a hasty retreat not quite fast enough to avoid a slashing attack.

"Goddamn bastard…!" Weevil hissed, wiping blood onto his sleeve. "You'd already be dead if it weren't for that friggin' sword!"

"It's because of this sword that you'll be friggin' dead soon, Weevil." Andy retorted, raising the weapon into guard. Once again, there was no ego in the statement. Only the calmness of fact.

"Says you!" Weevil thrust out one of his hands and the geometric pattern on his body lit up.

The sword's warning was just as quick for Andy to move - dark flames erupted where he had been standing. The sudden attack quickly became an impromptu dance as Andy scrambled over debris, clothing and more, just one step ahead of the erupting jets of flame.

A tug on his instincts amidst the running and the doding prompted Andy to unleash what felt to him to be a blind swing. But then the flames stopped chasing him and he turned to see Weevil vanishing under a pile of shirts loosed from a demolished rail.

"Goddammit!" Fire shredded the clothing into burning scraps, Weevil ripping a scrap off his head. "I'm tired of pussy-footing around!"

His shirt rippled, a golden star dangling from a chain appearing on his chest. Andy braced himself for another energy blast, only to nearly drop _Oblivion_ as a pounding headache erupted right behind his eyes. The world swam, tinted in golden energy.

 _Kill the bitch, then gut yourself with that sword!_ Weevil's voice rang in his head.

"N-no…" Andy grit his teeth, fighting against the pain. But it was only with moderate success as he felt himself turn to were Fran lay as the sword slowly rose. Her face was still covered in blood, her good eye blearily focusing on him. But all she could do was moan in pain and try to push herself backwards.

 _Do it, scrub! I got the power here, not you! Now kill your girlfriend and then yourself! That's an order!_

The pressure behind his eyes increased, to the point he squeezed his eyes shut lest the pain cause them to pop out of his skull. In the new darkness, all he could see was Weevil's smirk. Then it became the Shadow Queen again and once more, she whispered the words that froze his heart.

 _You failed._

He could feel his body moving, jerkily like he was a puppet with twisted strings. But still moving, towards a helpless Fran, feeling the weight of _Oblivion_ shift in his grip as he lifted the weapon.

Andy dug his mental heels in, straining against the force that was wrestling his body from him. His head throbbed, something was burning cold in the center of his forehead. He wasn't going to hurt Fran, he wasn't, he wasn't, wasn't, wasn't-

The Shadow Queen just smiled mockingly. _You're failing already._

He could feel she was right, Fran trapped against the counter, pleading something through the haze of the smoke and heat that was filling the shop. His muscles tensed to swing, the sword quivering above his head.

Weevi's voice hammering into his brain. _Do it! Kill her already! Split her pretty face open! Do it! Do it now!  
_

"I-I-I-" It was like trying to stop a charging bull with his bare hands, the command was so strong. But he dug his heels in, strained, fought and remembered every good thing he and Fran had done, how beautiful those rare smiles she gave him over the last five years were and -

"I WON'T!" Reality snapped back to clarity in a rush, even as he whirled on his heel. The sword guided his instincts, leading him to twist aside a burst of gold magic from that magic star Weevil had, to spin around a launched gout of black-purple flame. He was so close he could see Weevil's eyes wide in surprise now and then sword came arching upwards to carry off his momentum. _Oblivion_ cut into flesh like it was butter-

-And Weevil's arm went flying up and away.

"Shit! Shit! Not again!" Weevil staggered backwards, somehow still on his feet and ignoring the blood spurting from the wound. Seeing Andy chasing after him, golden magic fired from his star. But _Oblivion_ cut right through it.

Desperation played on his face as he fired off more magic, but to no avail. Andy could see his eyes searching desperately for a way out. But there wasn't one - the sword was guiding him again, sharpening his senses and awareness. They were was no way for Weevil to escape, except through death when Andy took his head-

Something black and fiery red screamed through space between the pair and Andy threw himself back to give himself space to bring the sword up. A short glance at the object as it crashed into the remains of the bus' front showed it was the Helmed Horror.

What was left of it, anyway - only the mangled helm was recognizable for what it was due to the gap in it, otherwise it had been split open in a metallic parody of a blooming flower. The remaining arm was bent and twisted, crimped shut and rolled up on itself to become a stump. And everything else was just distorted amor and the last magma-like remnants of the construct's essence that cooling into rock.

Andy felt that skin-crawling, soul-dousing fear from before wash over him. But it was like he was protected by a layer of teflon - it slid right of him like water, leaving him dry and untouched. Even as he turned, he felt no concern at the sight of Lyrius. Up close, the miasma surrounding him like black flames, the bulging veins and red hue of his skin unnatural and magical. And there wasn't a single sign of human intellect in those pure white yes.

 _That's because he's not a human. He's a monster._ Andy told himself, hesitating for a moment as he realized Lyrius was a monster that had just manhandled an armored construct like it was Play-Doh.

 _Oblivion_ seemed to soothe him, the hilt growing warm in his hand and guiding him into a ready stance. Again, it seemed to whisper to him. _I am the blade of a hero._

 _And I'm a hero._ Andy agreed. He could see Weevil making his escape, severed arm in his remaining one. And following him was the floating skull and what looked like two feet plodding along in a comical run.

But they weren't important - the only threat here now was Lyrius. A magic-infused dark monster just like his wife. Whatever he'd done to himself, it had stripped him of whatever humanity he'd had and now Lyrius was endangering Andy. Endangering Fran. Just the man's presence was causing problems - there was smoke and fire flicking around the edges of the clothing store.

Lyrius caught sight him and then the sword pointed at his chest.

Andy allowed himself a smile. "Looks like your sword thinks I'm the worthy one. And it wants to stop you. I can feel it." He twirled the weapon, squaring off and on instinct, stretched out his will. _Oblivion_ responded, dark flames flickering around the blade before igniting to life.

Lyrius didn't respond, didn't even seem surprised.

Andy charged, letting the sword guide his swing in a powerful stab thrust that could pierce Lyrius' guard, then a hard jerk upwards to slice through that body like soft cheese-

Lyrius vanished in a whirl of shadows.

Then he felt something strike the back of his head, pain erupting throughout his body as _Oblivion_ dropped from suddenly nerveless fingers and Andy folded up as his strength vanished in one instant.

TTTTTT

Castiel sighed and signaled for yet another drink, regarding the five set before him with a downcast expression. "I miss being able to get drunk."

"You have done some terrible, evil things, practically sold your soul to a glowing magical rock once responsible for the end of the world and _that's_ your one regret? That you can't get drunk?" Serenity rolled her eyes. "Christ, you're messed up…"

"You're one to talk, Serenity." Castiel pointed at her half of the table. "I'm counting at least seven pina colada there with number eight in your hand!"

She glanced down at the drink, still stirring it with the little umbrella. "So?"

"You should be plastered, belting out ABBA and ripping off your top. But you're as sober as when you sat down." Castiel said with a deliberate arm fold. "At least _I_ have the excuse of being an undead insult to life, everything and the universe. What's your excuse?"

"Hey, I got drunk yesterday like a normal person." Serenity touched her necklace for a moment. "Turns out the Shadow Queen must have hated hangovers, because some of the magic here wiped mine away. Probaby senses that I'm not as...relaxed, as I was last night."

"Makes sense, I guess." Castiel grunted. "Keeping your wits about can save your life." He fiddled with one of the abandoned umbrellas, twirling it between his fingers. "Of course, having some magical firepower and the know-how to use it helps, too."

She scoffed at him. "I'd see through that set-up even if I was plastered, Castiel. You're going to pull a 'join me and we can rule together'."

"Nothing so bold." He said, hands up in a placating gesture. "You're doing well enough of that one your own - hanging with Dracula and Lyrius, for one. You have to know being around them means you're just going to get your hands more and more dirty with blood. And you're going to need more power to keep up."

Serenity mulled over her brother's words, surprised at herself how a large part of her was agreeing with him. The world was different, _she_ was different and if she kept going down the path she was on, she'd become the thing she had spent her life fighting against.

It was frightening how much he seemed to know her thoughts - but then, if she knew what it was like to be in his head, then the reverse must also be true. "Why wait, why fight it, why deny it? You could be so much more, Serenity. And I'm not just talking about killing and bloodlust. You could learn magic that could save lives, use necromancy and blood magic to combat death itself."

He placed his hand over her metal one. "You could even regrow your lost limbs or even create improvements."

"And all I have to do is join you." Serenity let some of her disapproval bleed into her voice. "I'm not eight anymore, Castiel. You can't just sweet-talk me into going along with you."

"I'm not expecting to do that." He returned easily. "All I want is for you to let me make you a vampire."

"But then you'd be my sire and you'd have control over me." Serenity raised an eyebrow as his surprised expression. "I've been living with Dracula for three weeks. I've learned a thing or two about vampires."

"Then have her turn you into one if that would make you feel better. I don't care how you do it, only that you do." He said in a low passionate tone. "You must know vampires lose their fear of death upon turning by now. All those things when we were kids, when you were going blind, all of that was because you were afraid. Afraid of losing control, of having your choices taken away from you."

There was truth to that - an unsettling amount of truth. Serenity found herself just swallowing thickly as she recalled the terror and panic her younger self had at her sudden spurts of blindness, of the boundless frustration and fear when the adults told her that she may not ever get better. That fear had spurred her to take control of something in her life - even if it was the life of other beings.

"But if you become a vampire, you could let go of your fear." Again, it was frightening how well he knew her thoughts. "You wouldn't have to fear becoming the monsters you fight because of your power - because you'd be _stronger_ than your monsters. Stronger than your fear."

His eye fixed her with a knowing gaze. "Strong enough to follow Lyrius wherever he goes."

"I'm strong enough to do that already." Serenity said, but the words weren't as confident as she wished they would be.

"Really? Have you gotten into a fight with something like me and won? Without relying on a shadow game or Duel Monsters?" Castiel said, face framed in the shadows of the booth. "Can you confidently say you could actually beat me now?"

Her silence was all the answer he needed. "You can remove the uncertainty, Serenity, the fear, the not-knowing. You know you can, that you'll have to because the further Lyrius walks down his path, the more dangerous it will become."

Serenity knew that - she'd known since the attack on Dracula. Something so powerful, reduced to such a helpless state in an instant. Mai, a human involved in things had scarred more than her body. Danger, circling like sharks scenting blood in the water. The bar seemed quieter now, farther away, like a hazy dream with the fanged smile of her brother the reality in this small booth.

"I can help, Serenity. That's all I've ever wanted to do with my little sister, is help. I'll give you strength. All you have to do, sis, is just…" He held out his hand. "Join me on the dark side of the world and -"

 _"Mrow."_ Therapy interrupted the conversation by jumping up onto the table and knocking over one of the abandoned glasses. Serenity let out a yelp as cold ice splashed against her jeans and belly.

Castiel fumed at Therapy. "Blasted cat! I swear she keeps interrupting me on purpose!"

"I just don't think she likes not having attention." Serenity was drying her clothes as best she could with napkins. The ice had woken her up, scattered some of the dark thoughts she'd been having. Therapy began to pace back and forth across the table between the two, meowing expectantly.

"I'm telling you, she's doing it on purpose." Castiel insisted. "Everytime I try to have a serious conversation with you, she's meowing her head off or sticking her nose up onto the table!"

"Don't be silly."

"And what about that cute waiter I was hitting on? I was _this_ close-" He held thumb and forefinger a few centimeters apart. "- to getting his number before she tripped up his legs!"

"Therapy was just chasing one of his shoelaces." Serenity countered, then sighed at his glower. "She's a cat, Castiel - I seriously doubt she's trying to sabotage your efforts to get laid."

"Well, maybe you should remind her what I used to do to cats I didn't like…" He muttered darkly, then frowned as Therapy slid into his lap. "Did you just not hear me, feline?!"

"Aww, she likes you." Serenity stifled her giggles as Therapy turned in a circle on Castiel's lap, than began to knead with all of her paws.

"Serenityyyyyy!" it amused her to see her brother whining like a child again as he squirmed in the booth. "It tickles!" He went as tense as Therapy finally came to a stop and lowered herself onto her newly claimed bed with the same smugness that all cats had when they found a comfy spot to sit. Serenity tried not to laugh as the glowering vampire grumbled and scratched behind her ears. "Serenity, I know you really don't want to join me. But let me ask you something."

"If it's can she sit on my lap, no. This is too funny." Seeing him glare, she chortled. "Fine, shoot."

"What if it wasn't me asking you to embrace the darkness in your heart, to be the best version of you there, to drink from the font of power you so richly deserve? What if it was Lyrius?" He asked evenly. "Would you do it then?"

Serenity froze for a few heartbeats, something dark slithering about her soul. Maybe it was her magic. Maybe it was her sadism. Her mind flicked to Lyrius asking her those things, those black eyes staring into hers and his hand outstretched. A heady feeling washed over her, a shiver down her spine at the sheer intensity of the thought, of feeling his own dark magic - counterpart to her own - touching her. Of sharing in that bloodlust that radiated off him when he fought and killed.

 _Maybe this is what Dracula feels for him. Maybe this is what he feels about Iris._ Serenity couldn't deny that it was a good feeling. A powerful feeling. An intoxicating one.

Castiel, once again, seemed to know her thoughts. "Think about that and figure out what the truth really is instead of feeding me non-answers, little sister. I - ow, you blasted cat!"

Therapy ignored him, her fur standing up on end, back arching as she hissed violently as her claws sank into the vampire's legs. Serenity glanced at her, then glanced in the direction she was staring.

Soldiering through the bar's doorway was the most ungainly-looking robot she'd ever seen. A cluttered, gunmetal gray body that looked like it'd be slapped together with hope and duct tape topped by a skull-themed head that _did_ have duct tape patching an angular slash. Whoever it was, he was shouldering his way through the crowd and patrons without much care for manners if the 'fuck yous!' he was giving out were any indication.

"Joka?" Castiel frowned at the being. "What the hell is he doing here?"

"You know him?"

"One of Fushioh's pet projects. Supposed to be a hitman-for-hire, but he seems stupider than an entire class of failed I.Q. tests. If he's looking for someone, I bet anything he's going to lose his patience and -" Castiel sighed as Joka raised a hand into the air, squeezing off a barrage of rounds into the ceiling. Patrons screamed and dove under tables or shielded themselves. "Yeah, this going to turn out _so_ well."

"Alright, ya schmucks! Listen up! First of all, don't be a hero because the next person who fires a quip at me is gonna get a bullet in response." Joka glanced around the bar, making sure everyone was looking at him. "Second of all, I'm here for one lady in particular, then you can go back to ruining your fleshy organs by drinking!"

Castiel signed again, chin propped up in his hand as Joka began to stomp around the bar, peering under tables or kicking empty chairs aside to look at their owners. "Should we stop him?"

"What do you mean 'should we'?" Serenity gave her brother a reproachful look. "He's got a gun and he's an idiot! Of course we should!"

"That doesn't mean the person he's hunting doesn't legitimately deserve it. And you're right, he _does_ have a gun. Which he'll be more than happy to use if we try to intervene." Castiel responded. "And there's a lot of innocent people here."

"Good point…" Serenity muttered, mind racing to figure out what they could that wouldn't result in dead bodies. Getting ahold of Dracula might work, if she hadn't left her cell phone in the room. And while Lyrius had mentioned that Las Vegas had a team of active Shadowchasers, there was no guarantee any of them could make it here in time to do anything.

The choices were taken away from her when Joka suddenly stomped up, gun pointed squarely at her face. "Alright, little red riding hood, hop up and put on your best cloak. We're going to grandma's house."

"Joka, that's my sister." Castiel cut in, waving a hand to catch the cyborg's eye. "And as much as I'd be happy to hear her being on the wrong side of the law, I really doubt she's got a bounty."

"Oh yes, she does, Cassie" Joka respond, his voice accompanied by a triumphant burst of static. "She, Dracula and the blonde they pulled out of the Underground earlier today. A cool million apiece for any of them, five for a complete set."

Serenity frowned, berating herself as she realized the warning Saracen had given them before they hadn't been for show. Given that the audience had tried to kill them for disrupting the show, she had an easy time believing that Chance would put a bounty on whomever had taken his prize showgirl.

"You stole someone from the Underground?" Castiel demanded of his sister. "Quentin Saracen's Underground?"

"No, Dracula found one of my friends and we removed her from a dangerous situation." Serenity responded in a testy tone, not appreciating her brother's indignant words.

"Hey, save the bickering for daytime TV, I'm on a schedule!" Joka gestured with the gun at Serenity again. "Let's go, red!"

"Not happening, Joka." Castiel warned him darkly. "If you don't want to be reduced to your component nuts and bolts-" He paused as the gun swung to point in his face. "If you shoot me, it will only make me more pissed off."

"Hey, I'm not stupid." Joka cocked the hammer. "It's just a distraction."

His other hand came up, Castiel moving at inhumane speeds to grab it. But that wrong move - it was the object in Joka's hand that was the problem. It was a small jar and it smashed into the table. Instantly, something thick, white and sticky roped out in all directions. Webbing that prompting entangled the vampire, prompting a snarl from the vampire and a yowl of panic from Therapy.

"That'll keep you nice and occupied, Cassie. Sorry, but business is business and I need some." Joka turned towards Serenity, only to go staggering as Serenity's metal fist caught him in the chin. "The fuck?"

Serenity had a hard time believing herself - the milliseconds between the jar breaking and the web entangling her, Instinct had become a protective coat around its master. That meant, as the shadow body of the familiar had peeled itself off her, she'd been free of the webbing.

But there was no time to marvel at it now- she caught Joka's arm as he swung the gun around, metal fingers whining as she ripped it out of his grip and sent it clattering to the table. She landed a follow-up blow to his face, wincing as she belatedly realized she'd done with her flesh-and-blood hand.

Then Joka headbutted her, cackling with glee as she reeled; wide open for a couple of right crosses that spent her crashing into another table. "The only thing that's gonna break when you hit me is your fleshy body!"

He advanced on her, halting when Instinct whickered out of the booth and into the space in front of him. The familiar landed a couple of blows on him, sending him stumbling a step.

Joka rightened himself, squaring off Instinct with a annoyed, rattling laugh even as the familiar adopted a combat stance. "Christ, lady, I've heard of looking good in all-black, but this is ridiculous."

Serenity didn't respond, her eyes narrowing and Instinct just lashed out with a punch that he dodged around. "Fine? You wanna do a little shadow-boxing? I'll box you into a coffin!"

TTTTTT

For the second time that day, Andy woke up with the feeling of cotton in his mouth. Except this time there was a lot more pounding headache and some kind of nerve pain radiating throughout his entire body.

He tried to lift his head, letting out a hiss as the movement brought on a fresh wave of pain and felt a hand gently push him back into whatever his head was resting on. "Take it easy, kiddo. No sense in overexerting yourself."

"Solex?" Andy twisted his head, surprised to find the Sun Elf sitting cross-legged a foot or so away. His clothing was scuffed and ripped in a few places, a bandage over one side of his face. But the easy smile said the older bounty hunter was no worse for the wear. "You survived?"

"Got lucky. I was stuck between the seats when the bus started flipping. When it stopped, I had some new bruises and was a bit dizzy, but in one piece. Got out of it just in time to see Lyrius going at it with Weevil and the lich."

Andy frowned. "But I didn't see you at the crash site."

"You saw that lich as a floating head, right?" At Andy's nod, Solex grinned. "My fault. Started taking shots at him and I guess the crash loosened him up some, because my bullets start taking bits off. He lead me on a merry chase until I managed to ram a D-Wheel into him."

Andy felt the urge to ask why Solex was bounty hunting when he'd clean up at the tables with that kind of luck when another thought shoved its way to the forefront and came flying out his mouth. "Fran! Weevil took her eye and then Lyrius showed up! We have to-"

"Easy, easy." Solex held up a bracing hand. " Fran's going to be alright. Probably lost the use of that eye, but she'll be fine otherwise."

"How - we're not in an hospital!" Andy was forcing himself upright, glancing around wildly. They were in what looked an abandoned apartment - he was on the floor. A moan brought his attention to a nearby table and he glanced over with widening eyes and a sinking heart.

Fran was sprawled across it, naked. Bruises and burns were visible here and there under the chandelier lighting, blonde hair spilling off the edge like a waterfall. Her good eye was open, but her fists were clutching at the table, white knuckled with terror. And standing over her, one hand cupped against her face and speaking in a low voice was Lyrius.

"No! Stay away from her!" Andy somehow found his footing, hand scrabbling for anything to use as a weapon. He found a lamp, seized it-

Only for Solex to seize his wrist and interpose himself between Andy and the table. "Hey, take a moment and think, will you? Lyrius isn't attacking her, he's trying to heal her!"

"Heal her-" Andy scowled over Solex's shoulder, watching as Lyrius pricked his finger and pressed so that a few droplets of blood dribbled onto Fran's face. He jerked in Solex's grip as the droplets took on life of their own and slid there way into Fran's wound. "He's using blood magic!"

"To _heal_ her!" Solex repeated, this time physically pushing Andy in the opposite direction. "It's complicated, but the gist of it is he has to mingle his blood with hers so he can get hers to stop pouring from the wound as well restore some of what she lost!"

Andy yanked himself out of the elf's grip, wishing that his mentor wasn't making sense so he could just bash the lamp over Lyrius' head and be done with it. But he let the lamp drop back to the couch and settled for glaring.

"Don't be so righteously indignant, Andy." Solex's tone was tight. "Weevil may have taken Fran's eye, but you just about took her life!"

"I would never - are you insane?" Andy demanded. Then he yelped as Solex spun him around by the shoulders and pointed a finger out the window. In the distance a few blocks away, there was a plume of smoke wafting down the street.

"Know what that is? That's the clothing store we crashed in." Solex informed him bluntly. "You were so caught up in trying to fight Weevil and be a hero, you didn't realize that his flame and magic blasts were setting piles of clothing on fire! By the time Lyrius chased him off, the whole place was on fire and Fran had passed out from smoke inhalation!"

There was a whirl of emotion running through Andy now - anger at Weevil for hurting Fran, at Solex for letting Lyrius near Fran, guilt at his own failure to keep track of his surroundings during the fight, worry and concern for his girlfriend, even a little bitter over the fact she was naked and exposed while the three men weren't. It all made it hard to for him to focus and he settled for the simplest, easiest thought centered around the elf in front of him. "This never would have happened if you hadn't brought Lyrius along, Solex."

Solex just lifted an eyebrow. "How is he guilty here?"

"He ran into those three nutcases before and they followed him here!"

"Untrue. I had no idea they were in Las Vegas until they ambushed us on the bus." Lyrius said without looking up. His hands were red with blood that Andy _hoped_ was his and he was running them over Fran's burns gently. The wounds began to heal like a time-lapse - going from burnt red to harsh pink and crawling towards pale wholeness.

"But it was _your_ sword that they were after!" Andy insisted.

"Which we've been hunting for six months already." Solex put in.

"But still wanted it because it was his!"

"Which we can do nothing about."

Solex's calmness was suddenly very infuriating and Andy had an urge to punch him in the face. But the look on the elf's said he was ready for such a move and so Andy settled for scowling even harder. Their logic was blunting his anger and it was cooling into frustrated guilt over his part in the whole mess.

A pained groan from Fran drew his attention; she was shifting uncomfortably as her good eye blinked a few times though it didn't focus on anything. Her hand flew up, grabbing at Lyrius' arm in a deathgrip and her breathing picked up through grit teeth.

Andy was already pushing past Solex, fixing Lyrius with the fiercest glare he could muster. "That doesn't sound like someone whose being healed!"

"Th-thanks, Andy...so-so glad you're here to tell m-me the obvious!" Fran snapped, her grip increasing hard on Lyrius' arm so much the older man winced a little. "Lyrius, I still can't see!" Her voice was laced with panic, and her undamaged eye was blinking hard as though trying to force both of them to work again.

"Just relax," Lyrius's voice had a soothing quality, and Andy felt a prickle of discomfort as Fran obeyed, loosening her grip and forcing her breathing back to normal. "Her physical wounds are tended to, though her eye will require a doctor's care - the most I can do is stop the bleeding and keep it from getting infected." Though his words were now directed to Andy, Lyrius's eyes were roving over Fran's body. His fingertips were ghosting over her flesh, pressing seemingly random points. "The problem is Weevil's underworld flames. They do more than damage flesh, they attack the soul. Even the heat from the fires he started would be enough 'singe' her spirit, as it were."

"If you know what it does, can you treat it?" Andy demanded.

"I am trying to." Lyrius said without looking up from Fran, leaving Andy with a sudden jealous surge. "She will recover in time, but those wounds are the source of her immense pain. I am attempting to use tantric magic to as a painkiller and to restore some of her energy, but it is...difficult."

"Tantric magic?" Andy barked. "You're just copping a feel, you bastard!"

"Tantric magic is sex magic, Andy." Solex piped from behind him. "It works with pressure points."

Andy gawked, his anger forgotten as he tried to process what he'd just heard. "You're making her horny?"

"After a fashion, yes." Lyrius said without missing a beat. "I am hesitant to do any more than I have. Her physical wounds make achieving the necessary state of calmness and arousal a monumental task. I can go further, but that is exceptionally intimate."

"H-hey, at least b-buy me a drink f-first before you talk a-about going f-further." Fran panted, a weak giggle escaping at her bad joke and then she groaned hard. "Laughing...ow…"

The situation suddenly felt so more unreal than it had a moment - Fran cracking a joke at _Lyrius_ , who had his hands on her naked body and was deliberately trying to arouse her. And beyond the jealous urge to slap Lyrius' hands away and break his fingers for touching his girlfriend, Andy felt a dawning realization that Lyrius' methods were doing a better job of saving Fran than he had. It had to be a dream.

Or maybe a nightmare.

"Andy?" Lyrius was looking at him, dark eyes peering out from the forest of his bangs. "I know this is difficult for you, but I assure you all this is an attempt to heal Fran with what limited resources we have. What happened to her was Weevil's fault. And no sword can combat fire or smoke. You are guilty of doing what you could with what you had. No more, no less."

Rationally, Andy knew Lyrius was right. Logically, he knew that Lyrius would not more grope Fran in this situation than Andy himself would. Reasonably, he knew Lyrius was doing what anyone in this position would do to save a comrade. And, conclusively, Fran - and by extension, Andy - owed Lyrius her life.

Emotionally, it was just all too much and the whirl of emotions inside boiled over into a frothing inferno. "This doesn't make us even!"

The shout appeared to have startled Lyrius as much as it had Andy himself - the dark haired man's eyes actually widened a fraction. And Andy found it impossible to keep the words from spilling out. "You talk about redemption and saving your wife's soul, but all I've seen from you is the same I saw from her - nothing but making sure you're the center of the universe and drawing whatever unlucky saps you can into your orbit!"

He jabbed a damning finger at Lyrius. "First it was Serenity, who already looks to have her own host of problems given how she's missing two quarters of her body! Then it was us over your fucking sword that _you_ threw away in a fit of man-pain and angst! You want to save that bitch, but we're the ones who suffer for it! Not you!"

Now Lyrius' eyes were darkening, this time with anger. But Andy still found he did not give one care at all. "She put us all through hell, not to mention the countless people she tortured and killed over the last thousand years! _She's_ the one who made the bargains with demons and devils, yet you seem to think she's somehow worth saving! If you really wanted to make yourself feel better, maybe you should be doing your best to make amends to the people she hurt! Instead of chasing after her like some lost little puppy whose too stupid to realize that when she kicks him, she actually means to hurt him!"

"Shut. Up." The words were ice-cold.

"No, because it's your goddamn fault we're in the mess, Lyrius! You, your sword, your pain and your stupid obsession with a woman whose only redeeming quality was that she had a great rack! And I bet that was a result of magic, too!" Andy fired back. "If you think you still need to be with her so fucking bad, give me _Oblivion_ again - I'll send you right to her!"

Lyrius' face was dark now, that warm killing intent of his flooding the room like a rising tide. Andy refused to back down. _Someone needs to take this bastard to task and show him what he's idiot he's being-_

Their glaring match was interrupted as a bloodied hand reached from the table and yanked hard on Andy's ear, twisting it like was actually capable of unscrewing. He yelped at the sudden pain, then gulped as he was forcefully swung around to glare into the angry blue eye of his girlfriend.

" _What the hell is your problem_?" She snapped with far more venom then he'd ever thought her capable of. "I am laying here, bleeding out, missing an eye and all you do is scream at the man whose fucking saving my life!"

When there was no immediate response, she just growled and shoved him away before turning her head away pointedly. "You're a selfish bastard, Andy. You don't even care that I lost an eye or that I could have died! You just want to feel right!"

"Fran - I didn't - I mean-"

"Just shut up, Andy. I mean it. Shut up, don't talk to me. You make me sick." Fran snapped over her shoulder.

"But Lyrius -" Andy fumbled a gesture at the man, as it hoping the points of his argument would become self-evident just by looking at him. "His tantric magic-"

"Lyrius is saving my fucking life, stupid! My soul was lit on _fire_ and guess what? That fucking hurts! So if he needs to save my life by fucking me, I'll let him!" It was anyone's guess whether or not her missing eye enhanced her rage or her rage made it possible to still glare out of that wound. "At least then I'd know he was doing it out of genuine concern and care for me!"

Andy's hands dropped to his sides. "Fran, you can't - our destiny-"

"You know what, Andy? Fuck destiny. I mean that. Go off, find this destiny you think you have to have and fuck her." Fran slumped back to the table, strength drained out of her as she stared up at the ceiling. "You've been returning her calls for the last five years, you might as well make the wedding official."

Andy struggled for words, but a pathetic, sad helpless noise came out instead and Fran let out a deep, pained-filled tired sigh. He felt Solex pulling gently on his arm and let the elf lead him into another room. Solex pushed him into a plush chair and made a point of closing the door.

TTTTT

Lyrius watched the door click shut, then resumed his work on Fran.

She was quiet as he began the laborious task of coaxing her natural energies to stir to life enough to fix the wounds Weevil's underworld flames had given her spirit.

Her remaining eye was closed and even the pain she had to be in didn't stop her shoulders from trembling. "Sorry...you have to see me cry like a little bitch…"

"There is no shame in tears." He said in a soft tone. "Or a broken heart."

"Y-yeah." She hiccuped, twisting in pain both external and not. "You have any magic for that?"

"Only that of time, friends and occasionally a stiff drink." He responded. There was some more silence for some long moments, then he decided it was his turn to speak. "Does your life still feel not-real?" There was a pause in her tears as she blinked at him in confusion. "You told me last night that you did not feel like a real person. That you were a fantasy girl, and that your life, your person and your love were not real."

Fran seemed to shrink a little at his words, but her eye opened to focus on something that wasn't him. "...is it wrong of me to think I suddenly just woke up from a five-year long dream?"

"No."

"...is this how you felt when you woke up from yours?" Tears welled up in her good eye again and she sniffled, snot tinted red with blood running out her nose. "Like the world's heaviest weight has been lifted off you and yet you feel like the most disgusting, horrible person on the face the planet?"

Lyrius managed a wane smile. "No more so than the next person who has broken up with someone they love dearly."

"That's just it. I love him. But I'm not in love with him." Fran groaned and leaned back against the table. "I'll stop feelings sharing at you now. The pain is coming back."

"Rage is a weak anesthetic." Lyrius confirmed, moving to touch a series of pressure points along her stomach. "Rest, Francesca."

He frowned as she chuckled. "What is funny?"

"You used my name. I haven't heard that name in five years." She closed her eye. "Thanks."

Lyrius frowned, not sure how that was relevant. But then his manners kicked in. "You're welcome."

TTTTTT

The last few minutes had been some of the strangest of Serenity's life. Joka and Instinct traded blows at inhuman speeds, the doctor watching as they hammered away at each other. Instinct was supposed to follow Serenity's subsconscious instincts and it showed - the familiar had no defense and was throwing punches reliant entirely on speed and force and never chained her blows or followed through. But as powerful and fast as they were, Joka wasn't getting much more than a few minor dents.

Not that he was faring much better - his blows weren't better and were accompanied by a stream of violent curses as most of them just slid off or through Instinct's magical body. He might as well been punching the air for all the effect he was having.

All things considered, if it hadn't been for the stray or deflected blow that would gouge chips out of the wall or the combatants now seizing chairs - the bar's occupants long since fled from the scene the moment Joka was distracted - and bashing each other with them like clubs, Serenity could have been forgiven for thinking the whole thing was nothing more than a playground, play slap-fight.

"Son of a goddamn, motherfucking, Jesus Christ, unholy bitch!" Joka roared -sound like an awful lot like a radio trying to use volume to compensate for white noise. "I have had enough of this play-acting crap!"

Serenity watched as he shuffled backwards out of Instinct's reach, trying to figure out what he was going to do. The space in between tables and booths was too narrow for him to get around the familiar and there wasn't anything he could to get over Instinct. But she saw him draw back his arm for a punch, something whirring and clicking in its depths. Then shot forwards right for Instinct.

The familiar threw up both arms in an cross-guard, but his blow sank right through the limbs, Instinct's face and out of the back of the head. Leaving it just a scant foot away from Serenity. And her eyes widened as she realized the palm had a circular vent open on it. A vent that was glowing red with heat.

Flames gouted right for her.

When she felt no heat or searing pain, just darkness, Serenity wondered if that meant the flames had killed her so fast she hadn't time to feel it. But then she did feel something - a pressure pushing at her face and chest. And the dark blinding her was cool and silken and covered her whole body from the top of her head to the bottom of her feet.

She was inside Instinct. Or whatever it was that made Instinct up.

The pressure vanished and the darkness around her eyes peeled away to reveal a stunned Joke standing there, his palm coughing a feeble wisp of smoke as his flamethrower ran dry. "Crap, that's what I get for going to Home Depot for my weapons needs!"

He wasn't stunned for long - even as Serenity lashed out with a blast of crackling dark magic, he ripped a chair off the ground to intercept it. Wood and metal twisted in on itself and evaporated into nothingness, but the move meant he could cross the short distance between them. And clamp his hand around Serenity's throat to lift her in the air and squeeze. "I'm gonna squeeze you until your eyes pop!"

Servomotors whined, the fingers clenched and there was pressure at her neck. But only a pressure like she'd get from wearing a scarf that was a little too tight. Joka's red eyes flashed in irritated surprise his mechanical arm ground and clicked and whined, hydraulics pouring more and more strength into themselves and found that despite being able to crush concrete, there weren't even able to budge the shadow-stuff coating Serenity's body. "What the hell is this!? You a Kryptonian or some shit?"

Serenity didn't have a quip to respond with, only a smile as Joka's arm began to leak oil and steam from cracks and chips while the duct tape covering them began to bubble and melt. Then Instinct flowed down over his arm, seeping into the new holes and he yelped in panic as the shadow stuff bulged out the metal covering. He dropped her and Serenity followed up with a scything hand - tipped in a wedge-shaped blade of familiar - that scored a new gash across his mask, just under his eyes.

Joka growled and lifted his good hand up like he was pointing a finger gun at her. For a moment, Serenity wondered if it would actually be a gun and then she realized his index finger was missing.

And currently lodged in her own arm, connecting them by a few ugly-looking wires. She reflexively tried to jerk her arm away, but to her surprise, it didn't even so much as twitch at the mental command. Instead, all she got was a cackle from Joka as her own metal fingers flipped her the bird and then shot towards her throat.

Serenity stumbled back, catching herself against the wall and sighing in relief as Instinct reappeared and ripped out the offending finger from the casing. It recoiled back towards Joka and she stepped protectively behind her familiar as the thug rattled like a worn-motor under his mask. He didn't look ready to give up and Serenity was starting to wonder what other tricks he had up his sleeve.

Instinct had been her ace, but the familiar wasn't under her direct control and couldn't hurt him. Castiel was still tangled to his seat in the webbing, his struggles to free himself only causing it to stick to him worse. _I_ _don't have any_ _options left…!_

There was a cool feeling at the hollow of her throat, the necklace suddenly almost constricting around her neck and Serenity felt the darkness within her uncoil to life. It whispered like a serpent in her mind, inviting her to call upon them.

"Hey!" Her tone was sharper than normal, commanding and strong. It brought Joka out of his mutterings to give her a red-eyed glare. "You want me? How about we duel for it?"

"Please, girlie, I don't have gotta duel something I can outfight-" Joka paused as a destructive crunch sounded - Castiel, having managed to get enough leverage, had gone for the rout of smashing the booth itself and the noise had been him smashing a good hunk off the back. "Eh? Frig, why not."

Joka's damaged armed whirred and hissed and he slammed it against the wall a couple of times before it behaved. With a disturbing amount of odd-clicked, it transformed itself into a makeshift Duel Disk. "Least Igor had the sense to give me the default options. But lady, we ain't doing this like a normal. We doing this like-"

He trailed off as the shadows around them, stretched long and thin in the bar's dark light, erupted together into an encompassing dome of pulsing blackness. "Well, shit. Guess that makes sense."

Serenity just smiled in a cruel way, feeling a revitalizing tingle prick its away across her skin. Instinct flowed over her body, becoming a revealing, scanty bodice. Joka's flamethrower had burned away the clothing the webbing hadn't snared, but she felt no cold here. Only the warmth of home. "Winner takes all, Joka."

"Was planning on it, lady." He cocked his head at her, an ogling whistle slipping free of his mask. "Damn, chickadee, you got a pair of two-ton jugs on you! One for each ton!"

Serenity ignored him, trailing her fingers through the darkness surrounding her and letting it waft in front of her before she raised her arm. The shadows pooled, resolving into a black Duel Disk. "Let's begin."

TTTTT

The last few minutes had been some of the most painful of Andy's life. The argument he and Fran had just had been less of an argument and more of a painful reality check on the status of their relationship. Or lack thereof. Part of him hoped they'd be able to smooth things over, but the part of them that had broken down into tears and bawled as Solex found some tissues knew that it was over.

And he had no idea what to do about any of it.

Except cry some more and that worn thin in short order as he was already fatigued from his fight with Weevil and unloading his rage at Lyrius. He just couldn't understand it. _We're supposed to be together. We were destined to fall in love..._ The last five years had been perfect - like they were doing what they were supposed to do. _Then why isn't anything making sense anymore?_

Solex had been patient through it all, saying nothing but keeping tissues in Andy's reach and disposing of the used ones in the wastebasket. Andy was grateful for that - he wasn't sure he could tolerate anyone offering him sympathy or pity without flying into another rage or yelling again. And his throat was already raw enough as it was.

But after about twenty minutes, the elf touched Andy's shoulder gently. "Hey, I know you're hurting a lot and not thinking straight. But we can't spare anymore time for a pity party. We've still got enemies out there and sooner or later, they're going to find us. We need you focused."

Andy nodded, glad to have something to dwell on besides his heartbreak. "Where is here, anyway? Fran and I noticed that there wasn't anyone at the crash sight but anyone who'd been on the bus."

"We're in a pocket dimension, more or less." Solex said by way of explanation. "Someone put up a barrier linked to the Astral Plane around the crash and everything else for a few blocks. So we're stuck in a replica of that space and everyone else outside is just seeing a crashed bus empty of bodies."

"That sounds bad." Andy sat up a little straighter, the last pangs of sadness banished by a new kind of worry. "Why would someone do this? It sounds like a lot of effort."

"It is. It takes a lot of time to cast the necessary spells and you need more than one person, too." Solex agreed in a sober tone. "Which means someone was seeing our bus ride from hell and decided to get creative."

"Just to get _Oblivion_?"

"And make sure everyone else chasing it can be killed at their leisure. They kill us in here, escape and when the spell vanishes, all anyone else sees is our corpses." Solex shook his head. "Our saving grace is the size of this place - it's at least three square blocks, which means they threw it up in haste. So they have to spend time searching for us."

"We can't hide forever." Andy pointed out, trying not to let his imagination run away with the idea of what out there thought it could take on Lyrius, a lich, a vampire and the others all at once.

"We won't - we've got a couple of advantages. First off is that the caster for this kind of spell has to be inside it, too. Otherwise the dimension just falls apart. The second thing is you managed to keep _Oblivion._ " Solex clapped a hand on Andy's shoulder. "That is a very good thing - in Lyrius' hands, it should be of capable of cutting open a hole to the outside."

"Why haven't we done that now - get away before they notice?"

"We kind of had to deal with a clothing store fire." Solex noted dryly, more than a little amused as Andy winced. "Fran needs to be stabilized, then we have to make it to one of the edges of this place without being seen. See, we can't exactly go to a hospital or explain to the authorities how we just magically appeared blocks away from the bush crash all in one relative piece."

"Right, I gotcha." Andy nodded in agreement, then frowned as he realized something. "Lyrius was fighting a Helmed Horror - how'd that get in?"

"I don't think it did - that lich had some gemstones replacing his knuckle bones. He probably sealed a few summons inside of them. Expensive as hell and dangerous because those gems tend to explode when you break them open to get the summon, but I guess he could just regenerate if one of them blew him to bits." Solex cocked an eyebrow as Andy rubbed at the back of his neck. "You okay?"

"Yeah, just Lyrius hit me in the back of the neck to knock me out earlier."

"Aw, no, he just teleported over to get Fran. I kind of snuck up on you and tasered you." Solex held up his hands defensively as Andy scowled hard at him. "Hey, you weren't exactly thinking straight and we were in a hurry!"

Andy was saved from coming up with an argument beyond 'Not cool' by the sounds of breaking glass next door, then two loud booms. Before the sounds had even faded, both he and Solex were bursting through the door.

Which proved to be a mistake - Andy saw a square objects flew through the now broken windows. Then it exploded loud enough to leave his ears ringing and with a blinding flash of light that felt like someone driving nails into his eyes.

 _A flashbang!_

The world came back to visibility, though it was if he was viewing it through a hazy, smoked piece of glass with everything indistinct and blurred heavily. He was aware of shadowed objects flying through the window again, this time going off in mid-air. What looked like long tentacles spiraled out from them but they hit with a disarming amount of softness. At least until he tried to move and they snapped tight around him wherever they had hit.

 _Now we're being hit with webbing. Just who is attacking us? Magical SWAT?_ Andy could see a pair of hazy figures slowly advancing on the hole outside, while Solex was entangled with the door thanks to the webbing. Lyrius had thrown himself over Fran and while it seemed he was less trapped, he couldn't really move without getting the bare-skinned, wounded Fran entangled.

It was a remarkably effective and simple strategy - you put your opponent's in a cage, then corner them and disable them at range before claiming your prize. Along with killing your helpless enemies.

But Andy refused to be helpless. _Oblivion_ was in his hands - how had that happened? - and it sliced through the webbing with ease. Rising to his feet, he leapt across the room with unnatural grace to avoid the webbing and flipped through the hole in the wall to land with sword at the ready.

The two advancing figures were just as startling as their attack had been - they looked to be ordinary humans, dressed in generic gray combat fatigues with clear police-style helmets. Both were armed with handguns, but he could also short swords sheathed at their waists and small shields over their backs.

 _They armed to fight ordinary people and Shadowkind._ He realized with a start even as they both trained their weapons on him. _But even Shadowchasers don't do that…_

There was also something about their faces that he couldn't quite put his finger on. They almost reminded him of Gospel with how perfect their features were, like Heaven itself had had put in a helping hand to ensure optimal beauty. And there was similarities in their eyes and ears, even nose shape. _Are they related somehow?_

He glanced between the pair - they had stopped advancing once he'd emerged. He'd expected them to shout for him to lower his weapon and surrender, but they were just giving him flat, cool stares even as they kept their guns trained on him.

A flicker of panic ignited in him as he realized the stupidity of confront people with guns armed with just a sword - but _Oblivion_ seemed to be guiding him once again. In his mind's eye, he could see the necessary moves to block the bullets, how to quicken himself to cross the distance between him and threats so he could cut them down. Andy felt his heart calm, a sense of assurance spreading through him.

It just as quickly vanished as he saw a new figure come into view from the alley across the street, his jaw clenching in sudden fear as his heart threatened to beat an escape out of his chest. "No...you...you're dead!"

"That was an inconvenience, not a fact." The Shadow Queen, flanked by two more of the strange armed humans, strode across the street with a leisurely stride. Her blonde hair flowed behind her like molten gold, black dress a dark shadow. "It is good to see you again, Dragon Master."

Andy's words dried up on his tongue even as he backed up a couple of defensive steps.

Her rolling storm eyes flashed in delight. "No quips? No defiance? No promises of defeating me again? Did our last encounter shake your soul so much?"

Only the warmth of _Oblivion_ 's hilt in his hand kept Andy from shaking in fear and he kept the blade between him and her.

The Queen's gaze settled on the weapon and she extended a hand. "Give that to me."

He shook his head and backed up again. The sword was whispering at him again, encouraging him, telling he could defeat her with its power, that her magic was nothing against him now. But roaring fearful heartbeat he had drowned out those whispers.

"Give me the sword, Andy." She demanded. "I'll not ask a third time."

Andy found strength in the weight of the weapon, the magic that seemed to be filling his limbs and melting at the edges of his fear. "How about I give it to you right through your face?"

She sneered, the action doing nothing to mar her beauty. "Ah, there's the bravado from our last encounter. But you should have learned then, Andy, that words are nothing without actions." She gestured and two her soldiers began to advance on him. "My minions here may be short on the former, but they excel at the latter. They will demonstrate by breaking your limbs."

"As fun as that sounds, oh queen of shadows, I'm afraid I can't let you harm Mister Markova there. At least not until I retrieve the sword from him." It was Fushioh's voice, echoing from around a street corner.

The Shadow Queen turned to look at the source of the interference. "And just what to you intend to do about it? Fight me alone?"

"Oh, hardly." Fushioh, still just a skull and some vertebrae, drifted around the corner into view, detached feet still clopping along merrily behind him. "I'm still a bit hands-off at the moment, as you can see. And while I believe it would be a terribly fun encounter to trade witty, scathing banter with you, I am in something of a rush. So please excuse my rudeness as my companions squash you flat and devour your brains."

The Shadow QUeen looked just as puzzled by the comment as Andy did, but both of them got an answer as figure lumbered around the building.

Andy knew that giants were a rarity on Earth, to the extent that most other beings could go their entire lives without ever seeing one. But he'd heard enough about them from Solex know what was lurching towards them was a hill giant. Small for the species, but being four stories tall was large to everything else.

And this one was wrong somehow - there was no defining characteristics on its flesh, which seemed at once stretched taunt to the point of tearing and hanging limp from its limbs while leaving the moaning face a perpetual mask of sadness. The whole being moved with great awkwardness, each swinging motion of its limb an exercise in blind movement as it wobbled and swayed with each step.

"Whaddya think, scrubs?" Weevil was riding on the giant's shoulder, his arm reattached and cackling like a hyena. "This encounter got a high enough challenge rating?"

The Shadow Queen just shook her head and lifted a hand. Energy sizzled from it, scoring open a person-sized cut along the giant's belly. It bellowed, arms pin-wheeling as it reeled backwards. She fired again, this time punching a hole through one knee and it crashed to the ground, top half of the body wobbling back and forth so hard Weevil nearly lost his balance.

Andy frowned, wondering where all the gushing blood from wounds that size was. Then he saw giant's flesh bulge out and then flapping edges of its stomach wound fold outwards as something began to force its way out. It looked to be a human hand, then a human arm and then a human head with face that was nothing but rotting flesh and snarling hunger.

 _It's a bag._ He didn't know whether to be sick or impressed as he caught on. _Fushioh skinned an entire hill giant and turned it into a giant sack filled with who-knows-how many other undead._

The Shadow Queen didn't seem bothered by the zombie crawling out of the wound, but even her expression dropped some when more things kept squeezing out of the slowly-healing gash. Some were human zombies, but many others were things like rabbits, squirrels, weasels, ferrets, cats, dogs, snakes, even a few birds and some deer. A veritable menagerie of dead wildlife that numbered at least a hundred.

And every inch of the giant was stuffed with countless more. Hundreds, perhaps thousands.

In a nightmarish chorus of howls, snarls, cries and wails, the undead army surged forwards in a wave. Andy knew _Oblivion_ could defeat the undead in a single swing apiece, but the sheer number of them meant even if he was as fast as possible, he'd never come close to hitting enough.

To his surprise, the four soldiers the Queen had brought with her charged the onrushing army, opening fire with their weapons. The bullets tore through the undead ranks with far more effectiveness than they should have, blowing zombies apart with each hit. And none of the four missed with their shots.

Just before the two groups of combatants could collide, Andy felt his jaw drop as greath, gold-white feathered wings spread from the soldier's backs. They beat them once in unison, scattering the front of attacking small animals before sailing into the sky to rain a second death on the horde.

 _They're aasimar._ The thought was unbelievable, but the proof was in front of his eyes. _The bullets they have must be blessed_ _to hurt the zombies like that!_ _But how could the Shadow Queen get the literal children of angels on her side?_

"It appears that history does indeed repeat itself, Dragon Master." Black flames ripped through the ground in front of Andy, a small crush of undead animals crashing into it and scrabbling in vain to get through the magical fire that was burning them away each they tried.

Andy turned to face the Shadow Queen. The shadows had formed a black Duel Disk for her. She gestured and a standard model Duel Disk clattered to the ground front of him. "You remember how our last duel turned out, don't you?"

He knelt and grabbed the Disk, planting _Oblivion_ point-first in the ground beside him and sliding it onto his wrist. Part of him did question why she suddenly wanted to duel him, but the rest of him knew he had far better odds in beating her in a duel than in a straight-up fight. "You don't have your special cards to bail you out, Iris, and I'm a lot stronger than I was five years ago."

Her eyes flashed and he chuckled. "What's wrong? Don't like hearing your old name? Does it remind of how weak you were once? Or you just recalling how you had to beg for our help last time you lost?"

"Savor those memories, Dragon Master, because they are the only solace you'll have in this duel!" The shadows around them erupted and became the encompassing dome of a Darkness Game. The storms in her eyes raged, darkening like thunderclouds. "When I defeat you, not only will I claim _Oblivion,_ I will teach you that Iris is nothing but a feeble dream! And you will fear the reality that is The Shadow Queen!"

TTTTTT

 _A/N:_ _A lot of twists and turns with this chapter, but don't worry - this is all building steam for the story's climax! I promise, it won't dissapoint._

 _Also, for those who_ _are curious_ _, the monster Fushioh is attacking with_ _is called_ _a Grave Behemoth. It comes from Kobold Press' Creature Codex, a wonderful supplement to anyone's 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons campaign. Now available on Amazon! :P_

 _Next time, our heroes struggle to escape their_ _suddenly_ _impossible situations! Serenity duels Joka, whose is wielding a deck whose dark legacy may even swallow up her fiendish Virus monsters. While Andy duels the Shadow Queen in a long-awaited rematch and shows just how powerful his dragons have become!_

 _Vegas: Double Down_


	23. Vegas: Double Down

Kintsugi  
By 7th Librarian

Chapter 23: Vegas: Double Down

"So is this normal for the two of you or is turning out to be a special case?"

"Oh, I'd say this right up with a few." Solex responded, still busy trying to free himself from the door and the webbing entangling him. He'd pulled a hand out of his sleeve and had produced a short knife. But slow progress was being made as he attempted to cut through the thick, gooey strands. "I will say most like this are Lyrius' fault."

"I cannot say I disagree. I seem to attract a plethora of unique individuals wishing to kill me in entertaining ways." Lyrius responded, making small shifts in his position as he tried to determine how much webbing was trapping him to the table below.

"Or sleep with you." Solex reminded him, glaring in frustration his knife struggled to free itself from the webbing.

"This, from the elf whose list of one-night stands will soon need a table of contents for clarity's sake?"

"Compare notes later, boys." Fran, trapped beneath Lyrius, tried not to flinch as the echoing sounds of combat picked up. "We need to get out of here...before something out there gets in here."

"Easier said than done, kiddo." Solex grunted as he cut through a stand, freeing up his right leg. "Lyrius?"

"I believe I can get Francesca and myself out, but could not return for you without getting entangled." Lyrius glanced between the table and the door. "Can you reach us?"

"Could do. Let me -" Solex swung himself around, right arm still sealed to the door. Careful of where he was putting his feet, he stretched as far as he could towards the table. "Now what?"

"We need physical contact." Lyrius lifted his own arm to reach back, frowning as he realized that his hand as snared tight in a knot of webbing. And there wasn't much give. "We need to hurry - the webbing will dry soon and trap us in place."

"Let me. Lift yourself up." Fran waited until Lyrius did so, before she squirmed and shifted among her groans of pain to roll onto her stomach. With a few more moans of pain, she hauled herself forwards until she was half off the edge and reached through a hole in the webbing towards the Sun Elf. Their fingers grazed each other a few times before he managed a solid hold on her index. "Okay."

"Good. Solex, is any part of your skin touching the webbing?"

"No, only my clothes and-" Solex's eyes widened as he realized what Lyrius was about to do. "Wait- don't-"

It was too late- shadows swallowed all three of them, darkness becoming their world for a span less than a millisecond and then they were all crashing to a hardwood floor. Both Solex and Fran cried out in pain. "Apologies."

Fran nodded, teeth grit and good eye closed as she tried to keep from hollering. Solex, however, was more vocal as he clutched at the side of his hair. "Agh, dammit, Lyrius, part of my hair was stuck to the door! And it didn't come with us!"

"It does not look that bad." Lyrius said, sparing the elf a glance.

"...are you saying that because you're being nice or because it's true?"

"I am being honest." Lyrius corrected, moving towards the living room window. "It is a very 'punk' look. And you did not even have to style it with a weedwhacker."

"Just great. You owe me a haircut. Or a wig." Solex muttered under his breath as he joined Lyrius. They said on the windows sides, peering out with care. "Where are we now?"

"One floor up. My teleport range is not much. I scouted it earlier when we were looking for first aid kits." Lyrius tried not to wince as he took in the scene outside. He could see the black-purple sphere of a Darkness Game taking place on the street below surrounded by a ring of black fire. Undead animals of all sorts were circling it, smaller ones trying to leap over the flames while birds dive-bombed the sphere and didn't seem to grasp that the Darkness Game was spitting them back out in a random direction.

Gunfire came from farther up the street and Lyrius felt his jaw tighten at the ungainly, living sack of skinned hill giant he saw there. Four winged-figures were attacking it from various angles with both gun and bladed weapons as the giant swiped with clumsy hands at them in vain, doing more damage to the buildings and the air. More concerning was the horde of undead clamoring at the giant's feet, the sounds of ravenous cries and clacking bones a discordant symphony to accompany the battle.

Solex had seen it, and he winced at the sight of the giant. "You now also owe me a hazard pay bonus for bringing you along. When in whatever goddess you're banging's name did this become Night of the Living Dead?"

Lyrius ignored the commented and settled for answering the question. "That," He jerked his head at the giant. "Is a Grave Behemoth. Mobile, combat capable transport for the undead. And Fushioh had the brilliant idea of stuffing it full of small undead instead of human-sized."

"Leave it to you make _smart_ enemies. Most of mine yell, wave guns around and challenge me to shoot-outs." Solex said with a reluctant, but accepting sigh. "He must _really_ want that sword - and is that Weevil riding that thing?"

"Looks to be him." Both of them watched as the little figure unleashed golden blasts and black fire at one of the harrassing flying figures. "I do not recognize the attackers, but I assume they're aasimmar if the wings are any sign."

"I bet they want the sword, too." Solex shook his head. "Any ideas?"

"The only weapon we have that any range is your handgun, Francesca is wounded, it presumably involves Andy in that Darkness Game and has _Oblivion._ Our best move is to retreat further from the battle and observe the situation." Lyrius was already suiting action to words, stepping away from the window. "It is a safe bet to assume the aasimmar are working with whoever set the barrier up - we can capitalize on their victory against Fushioh when their guard is down or perhaps save them from their defeat."

"Andy's dueling in that Darkness Game?" Fran had found the strength to sit up, her voice tight with pain and concern. "When it drops, win or lose, that undead horde will eat him alive!"

"We are not going that far." Solex reassured her, leaning down to lift her into his arms. "Just moving to better cover where we can still keep an eye on things. As soon as that Darkness Game drops, we'll get him. I'm not losing one of my proteges to some undead zoo."

"And Andy dueling may be to our advantage." Lyrius added - he was checking the apartment doors, trying to find the one that led out of the room. "As rubbish as his personality is, Solex has assured him none of his dueling skills have slipped."

Fran still looked unhappy. "They haven't, but all the duelling skills in the world won't mean jack to a hungry zombie!"

"Didn't you tell him to go screw himself?" Solex checked.

"You can still hate someone and worry that they might be delicious!"

"We should move further down the street while remaining above street level, so the Darkness Game is between us and the fighting." Lyrius said, finding a locked door. He undid the catch and swung the door.

The window exploding inwards as five small black shapes burst through it. Darting erratically through the air, they descended upon the trio with an unnatural hunger.

 _Zombie hummingbirds._ Lyrius took a moment to appreciate the cleverness of attempting to zombify animals. While not as fearsome as humanoid zombies, they were just as hard to put down and harder to fight against because human tactics were meant for humans. Even these small birds were dangerous, pecking and digging into the soft flesh of all three with flybys at unpredictable angles or going for eyes.

If they hadn't been fighting for their lives, it might have been comical. Solex all but threw Fran onto the couch, producing one his knives to slash at the attackers while Fran defended herself with an ugly throw pillow. Lyrius garnered only slightly better luck as he caught one and smashed it against the wall. Another went down as he slapped it from the air and stomped on it.

It would not be enough - crows were already sweeping through the broken window. Lyrius felt one seize his hair and pull, another clawing at his fingers. Solex was swearing, Fran as well and he drew fire into his hands. There was a risk of hitting his allies or igniting the place, but it was the most efficient way to deal with the undead -

Latin reverberated in the apartment, the undead creatures screeching in sudden terror as they panicked. Lyrius felt his his skin crawl, something painful twisting in his gut while the zombies flew for the window. But they crashed to the floor before they could make it as the Latin continued and he realized it was a prayer.

The speaker continued and then with a quiet, resounding, _'Amen.',_ the zombies all ceased to move. Their bones cracked and then dissolved into piles of power.

Lyrius turned, Solex giving voice to the surprise all three of them felt as the realized the figure standing in the doorway was Gospel. The vampire looked so exhausted, even his wounds seemed to think bleeding was too much effort and a good shove would break him in two. But there was a solemnity to his expression and Lyrius had to blink as he realized the moon moth Eiliastraee had given him was nested in the man's hair.

Gospel leaned hard on the doorframe, but smiled as he looked at them. "Apologies for the rude interruption, but we should move on before more come, yes? I'd hate to see any of you eaten."

Solex jabbed a finger at him. "You tried to kill us."

"Well, thankfully, I did not do a great job. Shall we get going?"

TTTTTT

Serenity pulled cards from her deck for her opening hand, the razor-edges of her mask matching her dark smirk. "Are you ready to learn fear, Joka?"

"The only thing I'm afraid, toots, is not getting a chance to cash in on this payday you're bringing me." The cyborg retorted, arms folded as he tapped his foot with impatience. "Now hurry up, so you can take me to this blonde bimbo of yours and the vamp so I can complete the set!"

The smirk didn't waver. "You'll change your tune soon enough. From my hand, I activate Polymerization. This fuses my Virus Nuclear Ringmaster and my Versago the Destroyer together!"

Darkness from their surroundings wafted out to coalesce on her field, sloughing off to reveal her monster. It lost its black skeleton in the dark backdrop, leaving only a wicked cuirass, twisted thorn shield and hair comprising dark purple flames as indications the monster existed at all. "I fusion summon Vile Phantom of Haunting Nightmares in defense mode." (1300/1800)

"Eh, seen scarier things at the bottom of a Crackerjack box!"

"Then you must get frightened very easily, Joka." Serenity's smirk grew a little as he spluttered in a rage. "I set one card face-down and end my turn."

"My move!" Joka drew for his turn, scratching at his chin. "Ehhh, picked this deck up off old Fushioh's workbench. Ain't my style, but whatever! Why don't I activate good ole 'Poly', too?"

Serenity watched, a curious frown touching her face, as two spandex-wearing heroes appeared in the air above Joka. _Elemental Heroes Sparkman and Bubbleman?_ _Saying_ _that this deck isn't his style is_ _like_ _saying Joey could do ballet._

"I fuse these two do-gooders together and create Elemental Hero Alchemax!" The two heroes twisted together, resulting into slender bodied hero suit comprised running water. Lightning would zap through it, causing sparks to scatter and bubbles to form. "Heh, do ya think he's carbonated?" (2200/1000)

Joka's arm beeped, and he snapped his fingers as he caught on. "Cool beans - when I summon this guy, I can add a card that refers to Sparkman or Bubbleman to my hand 'cause he counts as both!"

He held up an equip card. "I'll pick my Bubble Rod - heh, rod - and-" His eyes flashed in annoyance as Serenity's set card lifted, showing Dark Ruler Ha Des manning a toll booth as a bunch of fairy monsters waited in line with Sanctuary in the Sky in the background. "And just what is that?"

"This is my Devil's Toll continuous trap card." Serenity drew from her deck. "Each time you draw a card or search one from your deck, I'm allowed to draw once."

"Fine, but you can't use it on my turn! I equip Alchemax with Bubble Rod, boosting his score all the way to three grand!" The hero held out his hand, grasping a crystal wand that appeared in mid-air. "Now waste that ghost thing! _High Voltage!_ " (2200-3000)

Alchemax held out the rod, a stream of water crashing into Vile Phantom and drenching it. The ghost hovered there for a moment, as if uncertain that had been the attack. Then electricity erupted around in great arcs and with a mournful wail, it explode. "Ha, I ain't afraid of no ghost!"

"Then how about this one?" Serenity pointed and then laughed as Joka flinched as Alchemax's shadow lifted from the ground. The act of doing so left it ragged tatters along the edges, two white eyes lighting up in menace as it drifted over to Serenity's field. "By destroying my Vile Phantom, it creates a Nightmare Token with your monster's stats." (3000/1000)

"Still not spooked, red! I set one card face-down!" The card flashed into existence behind Alchemax and Joka pointed at her. "Why don't you try again?"

"I draw." Serenity drew and then held it up, a gust of wind emanating from the card to shatter Bubble Rod. "Mystical Space Typhoon destroys your card."

"Ah, cripes." Joka grumbled as his monster's attack points fell. (3000-2200)

"As it is still my Standby Phase, I activate my Vile Phantom's other effect. Since I have a Nightmare Token in play, I can revive it." Serenity stretched out her hand and with a dark cackle, the ghost clawed its way out of the ground.

She grabbed another card from her hand and flipped it around. It glowed, transforming into two different cards. "Fusion Recovery allows me to pick up Polymerization and Versago from my graveyard. Then I'll use Versago and Polymerization alongside Bistro Butcher to fusion summon again!"

The air ripped open in front of her, allowing the monster to seize the edges of the tear and yank it wider. A broad, muscled body strained the blood-stained apron as the demonic chef stomped free. Catching sight of Joka, he opened a fang-filled mouth in mockery of a grin and ground his serrated - and over sized - knives against one another. "Sous Chef Generis!" (2400/2200)

"He'd cook me up something better than that diner did back on the road." Given his face was expression machinery, only Joka's tone showed he was rolling his eyes.

"How about he serves up Alchemax bloody side up? Battle! _Soul_ _Fillet_ _!_ " Generis lunched, driving his knives into the opposing fusion's torso. They ripped out the other side, the phantasmal soul of the hero squirming on the blades as the body rusted and rotted into gray death. Laughing, Generis ripped both soul and body apart with hard tugs on his weapons.

Joka rattled under his breath as his life points ticked down, then cocked his head when his Duel Disk beeped 'Draw Two' at him. "Eh?" (JLP: 8000-7800)

"Generis shares the effect of one his components, the Bistro Butcher, When he inflicts damage, you draw two cards. But you send any monsters you draw straight to the graveyard." Serenity watched as Joka drew and one card exploded into pixels. "Like that."

"Yeah, yeah, fine! I didn't like Avian, anyway!" Joka snapped his fingers and Alchemax's image appeared behind him. "You killed my hero, so now I can add a Polymerization or Fusion card from my deck to my hand!"

"But you still have to pay the Devil's Toll." Serenity drew two cards, one for each of their fusion's effects. "And it's still my battle phase! Nightmare Token attacks you directly!"

Water shot towards Joka, but it splashed against his set card as it flipped up to protect him. "Sorry, hot stuff, but I got my trap! Hero's Farewell! Since one fusion bit the big one, I take no damage during this turn and on my next one, I can add a replacement hero to my hand."

"That one will fall just like Alchemax did." Serenity warned him, swiping a card into her disk. "I set this face-down. End of turn."

Joka drew and then held out his hand in expectation. A second later, his deck shuffled itself and then slid one card out for him. "I'll be taking that, thanks!"

"I draw for the effect of Devil's Toll." Serenity did so, pausing in adding it to her hand. Joka had just grabbed a card from his hand and she felt something wash over her. A warmth of energy that held a sinister edge to it. _This feeling...am I sensing dark magic from his card?_

"Since standard fusion didn't work, why don't I go all edgelord with my next one?" Joka slammed the card into his disk. "I activate Dark Fusion!"

Serenity's eyes widened behind her mask as the air ripped apart in front of her opponent, spilling red and gold energy. The energy she'd felt before spiked, like a fountain erupting into a geyser in her mind's eye. _Incredible!_

A burly, dark-skinned warrior in a loincloth and an even larger, bulky gold hero appeared in front of the vortex and then vanished inside. "I fuse my Wildman and my Edgeman into Evil Hero- Feral Slash!"

The vortex shredded apart as the fusion charged free, a hulk of a being whose snarling face and claws spoke more of a wild animal than a hero. A mish-mash of spikes and jagged armor covered his body, claws jutting from his elbows, knees, over his hands, crawling up his face in a parody of a mask - everywhere. (2600/2300)

"Ah yeah, that's the good stuff!" Joka pumped a fist in the air before jabbing a finger at his monster. "Go wreck her shit! Turn that chef into hamburger! _Ferocious Fatality!"_

"Reverse card open!" Serenity swept out her hand, but nothing happened. _My set card isn't working?!_

Feral Slash let loose an earth-shaking, bloodthirsty howl of rage as he surged forwards on all fours. One of Generis' knives went flying off, the other stabbing in vain into the hero's body. The pain seemed to enrage Feral Slash further, punishing blows raining down on Generis until it bloodied the bigger fusion's fists as the chef blew apart into pixels. (SLP: 8000-7800)

"Guess what? Feral Slash gains five hundred when he slaughters a monster and then he can keep on attacking!" Another roar and Feral Slash was charging towards the Nightmare Token. The shadow let out a cackling and lashed out with whipping shadows. But they didn't so much as halt the attack. (2600-3100)

The Evil Hero ripped the phantom hero to tatters, the shadow magic nothing more than paper under his immense strength. As the scraps blew into pixels around him, he let loose another unsatisfied roar as his gaze focused on the Vile Phantom of Haunting Nightmares. (SLP: 7800-7700) (3100-3600)

It fought back, but its sword broke against Feral Slash's spiked body and the shield was nothing against his brute strength. The specter still laughed as Feral Slash clawed to ectoplasm before becoming pixels.

"But wait, there's more!" Joka laughed as Feral Slash rounded on Serenity, the spikes on his body glinting in the bleak light of the Darkness Game. "When Feral Slash destroys a monster, you take six hundred damage! _Spiked_ _Pain_ _!"_

The spikes erupted in length, Serenity letting out a wail of pain as they pin cushioned her. There was no physical damage yet the pain left her reeling before she collapsed to a knee. (SLP: 7700-6100

"Beautiful, just beautiful! Ya might have hit high 'C', girlie!" Joka clapped his hands in mockery before cocking a head as Feral Slash staggered back to his field. The fusion shuddered, then cried out in pain as the spikes on his lower body shot out, anchoring him to the floor. Above, his scores flashed as his stats changed yet again. "Aww, crap, he went to defense mode…" (4100-2600/2300)

Glancing at his remaining cards, he grumbled like a worn motor under his breath. Only to stop when he realized there was a new noise in the Darkness Game. A rapid, rhythmic drumming of metal on ground.

He leered at Serenity as she finished pulling herself upright, eyes flashing red in the gloom. "Looks like the big Mista-J might be more handle, toots!" An oil-covered finger jabbed at Serenity's metal leg, which was twitching like a jackhammer against the floor. "You're already running scared!"

Serenity did not respond right away, her shoulders quivering. Then she lifted her head, dark laughter bubbling out of her throat. "The only thing I'm scared of, Joka, is how much I'm going to enjoy this!"

TTTTTT

"Why do you look so tense, Dragon Master? You should enjoy yourself." The Shadow Queen spread out her hands in dramatic fashion. "You're getting the rematch I know you've just been dying to have!" (SQLP: 8000)

She gestured to the surrounding darkness. "Minus the audience and the peanut gallery commentators. But we wouldn't want to show them yet _another_ one of your crushing defeats again, now would we?"

"Maybe it's because you don't want them to point and laugh at the fearsome Shadow Queen begging for her life like the scared little girl she is." Andy smirked as lightning flashed in those stormy of eyes of hers. "Whoops, did I touch a nerve?" (ALP: 8000)

"We'll see where that bravado gets you, Dragon Master, after I've shown you just how powerful I truly am!"

"You say that, but all I hear is the same Iris from five years ago. All threats, venom and bluster." Andy folded his arms. "You haven't changed at all."

"I disagree - I learned much from the battle from five years ago. Allow me to demonstrate." She drew a card and then plugged two into her disk. "I activate the continuous spell cards Dark Contract With the Gate and Dark Contract With the Swamp King."

Andy lifted an eyebrow as the cards materialized in front of her. "Dark Contracts? As in contracts with fiends and demons?" He rolled his eyes. "See my earlier comment about how you haven't changed."

"If it isn't broke, why fix it?" The Shadow Queen pointed at Dark Contract with the Gate and it glowed. "Once per turn, this card allows me to add any 'D/D' monster from my deck to my hand. I select the monster known as D/D Ghost."

Catching the card, she pointed at Dark Contract with the Swamp King. "Once per turn, this card allows me to fusion summons a Fiend-type monster using D/D monsters from my hand or field."

 _A free search and one per turn Polymerization?_ Andy frowned as she discarded her two chosen cards. _Her fiendish pacts for power are as OP as ever_ _…_

"I fuse D/D Berfomet and D/D Ghost into D/D/D Flame King Genghis!" Fire shot out of the ground in front as a pillar, resolving into one of the strangest monster Andy had ever seen. Taller than either of them, with a gray, curvy body and armed with a flame-shaped sword alongside a tower shield. (2000/1500)

The Shadow Queen noticed his confusion and chuckled. "These monsters name stand for 'Different Dimension Daemon'. And like Genghis Khan in our world, Flame King Genghis once established his own empire in that world!"

"So you can fusion summon one long-dead conquerer." Andy shrugged. "Good for you."

"Perhaps you'll think different as I continue my move." She held up her Duel Disk, the graveyard slot glowing. "When D/D Ghost is sent to the graveyard, I can select another D/D card in my graveyard and send a second copy there. I select D/D Berfomet."

She slapped down a card and a cartoonish, yet still evil-looking fanged mouth appeared and let out a howl. "I normal summon D/D Nighthowl and in doing so, I may revive any other D/D monster in my graveyard. Be reborn, D/D Berfomet!"

This monster Andy recognized. It was the original Berfomet, but with a prosthetic leg with an angel and demon wing each sewn onto its left limbs while some kind of horned mask covered its face. (0/0) _Looks_ _like_ _summoning that thing with Nighthowl got rid of its points. So why would she bother?_

Then he started as Berfomet erupted into four stars that circled into rings around Nighthowl. "A Synchro Summon?"

"Correct- I tune my level three Nighthowl to my level four Berfomet!" Nighthowl vanished in all-consuming light, the rings scattered to motes of nothingness. "Synchro Summon D/D/D Gust King Alexander!"

The Synchro Monster was less strange and made more sense than Genghis - a warrior comprised out of nothing but curved armor with a semi-transparent green cape fluttering in a breeze behind and wielding a straight sword. (2500/2000)

Andy watched as Flame Genghis lifted his blade, the weapon glowing red as he roared some kind cry into the darkness even though he lacked a mouth. "What's he doing?"

"When I special summon a D/D monster, I can use Flame Genghis' effect to revive another one from my graveyard." In a flash of light, D/D Berfomet reappeared in a crouching position.

A slow smile spread across the Queen's face as Alexander shouted his own cry, though he drove his weapon into the ground. "And when I special summon a level four or lower D/D monster to my field, guess what Alexander does?"

"Nothing good for me." Andy grimaced as a second D/D Berfomet appeared alongside the first. Then his eyes widened. "Wait - they're both level four!"

"That's right and with these two monsters, I open the Overlay Network!" Time and space distorted as the two Berfomets folded together. Lumbering out of the mess, orbited by the two lights the monsters had become, was a purple-clad warrior-king holding a monster-sized sword over one shoulder. "D/D/D Wave King Caesar!" (2400/1200)

The Queen spread her hands as again as all three of her monsters crossed weapons, Three Musketeers-style. "What do you think? It took you and your two friends to master each summoning technique last time. But now my deck can do all three at once."

Andy took a calming breath, trying to ignore his heart racing. _So she has improved. I thought I'd be playing against her_ _slower_ _ritual deck, but I guess that's out the window._ "So you summoned a lot of monsters in one turn. I only need one to tear it all down."

"Do you, now?" The Queen slid a card into her disk. "Then show me it's not just empty talk. I end my turn."

"Draw!" Andy snapped up the card, grabbing another one from his hand with a confident smile. "Since you've got a monster with over two thousand attack points, I can special summon Schwarzchild Limit Dragon from my hand!" The air in front of him distorted, spilling out a snake-like dragon with a pebble texture to its brown scales. (2000/0)

"Then I activate the spell card Ergosphere -since I control one of my Schwarzchild Limit Dragons, I can add another one to my hand!" He caught the card his deck ejected out to him and slapped it down. "And I'll summon it!"

A second dragon slithered out to join the first and Andy smiled as the Queen just lifted an eyebrow. "Don't worry - I'll make it clear in just a second! See, I'm going to borrow a play from Stan's book and use these two level eight monsters for a Xyz Summon!"

The two dragons roared, intertwining together before shooting skywards up into the 'clouds' of the Darkness Game around them. _"Bathed in the_ _glow of the galaxy_ _littered with the stars of destiny, I forge a new dragon! Descend now and cast my triumphant_ _light_ _! Xyz_ _Summon_ _! Rank 8!"_

Descend, the dragon did. It was the largest monster on the playing field by far, a seamless mix of shaped-light and pale blue starlight flesh. Angular armor shone mounted as a helmet and epaulets were red and gold, as where the two angular bars jutting out from its back in place of wings. But then both unfolded in a 'V'-shape, allowing sheets of a breathtaking rainbow light to sprawl out in majesty. " _Galaxy-Eyes_ _Cipher_ _Dragon!"_ (3000/2500)

Andy felt his confidence rise as the Queen's confident expression dropped at the sight of his dragon, replaced by a look of trepidation. "Surprised to see it? One of your compatriots came gunning after me and Fran for revenge a few years ago had it on him. Once I defeated him, I liberated it from his grimy mitts."

Now the Queen was giving him a look of confused surprise. "You mean you do not realize that that monster is a piece of -" She cut herself off, but not before a laugh escaped her and she shook her head. "For you to come into possession of something like this is yet more evidence of how literal the expression 'dumb luck' truly is."

Anger ignited, using his confidence for fuel. "Let's see how amusing you think this is! I activate Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon's effect! I spend one of its materials and then not only do I take control of one your monsters, it becomes Galaxy-Eyes! _Cipher_ _Overtake!_ "

One light circling his monster shot free, sinking into the chest of Gust King Alexander. The warrior stared at the spot where it had vanished, then winked of existence to reappear on Andy's field. A violent shine of starlight leaked out of his body, cracking his armor and consuming his being. In moments, another Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon was standing alongside the first. (3000/2500)

"So now we both have two monsters." The Queen looked bored.

"No, you're about to have nothing!" Andy slammed a card into his disk. The light from his stolen Galaxy-Eyes dimmed as it was sucked into the original, whose wings flared even brighter. "I activate Cipher Diffusion! By draining the attack of my new dragon, the original can attack you three times!"

The dragon took flight, already gathering up energy in its mouth. "Wipe out her would-be conquerors! _Light Triumph!_ "

Crystalline blew fire rained down from the dragon even as she jabbed a finger at Wave Ceasar. The Xyz seized one light circling him and crushed it in his fist. "I activate my monster's effect!"

Andy braced himself, but nothing happened as the two fireballs crashed into her monsters. With agonized cries, they both exploded into pixels. (SQLP: 8000-7400-6400)

"When Wave Caesar is destroyed, I can add a Dark Contract from my deck to my hand." The Queen slid the new card among her hand, pausing as a blue glow spread over her from above. She lifted her head just in time catch a third Light Triumph with her face - and the rest of her. (SQLP: 6400-3400)

There was no helping the smile on Andy's face as she howled in fresh pain. "Not gonna lie, hearing that is pretty damn cathartic. Suits you much better than the smug bitch thing you had going earlier."

"Talking like that, Dragon Master, you're sounding less like a hero and more like a villain." The flames dispersed, revealing the Shadow Queen smoldering. But otherwise no worse for the wear as even her smirk had remained in place. "Keep it up and I may grow fond of you."

"Now that's a sickening thought!" Andy's fist clenched. "Good thing I could not care less about what you think of me!"

She laughed, a perfect one that pleased the ear. "Ah, but that implies you care already if you could somehow do so less. I wonder, is it because all your dreams you picture me on my knees, begging the big, bad strong Dragon Master for mercy? Do you wear my crown as you sit in my throne, the Unicorn Maiden draped across your lap as your Queen?"

"Shut the hell up, Iris!"

"Oh, I touched a nerve. How rude of me. I'll continue with the duel." The Shadow Queen lifted a slender hand and in twin pillars of light, Caesar and Genghis rose up. "At the end of the Battle Phase, Wave King Caesar revives all monsters you destroyed."

Andy's scowl darker at the sight of the monsters, but he grabbed a card from his hand. "I activate Sacrifice Draw! I tribute a monster to draw one card, but if that monster belonged to you, I get two cards instead!"

The stolen Galaxy-Eyes vanished as he drew and then he held up another spell card. "Trade-In lets me discard a level eight monster to draw two more cards!" Picking them up, he swept them into his disk. "Then I'll set them face-down and end my turn."

"During your End Phase, I activate the trap card Solomon's Lawbook." The trap lifted, then burst apart into sparkles. "Now my next Standby Phase is skipped."

She drew for her turn, chuckling at Andy's confused expression. "Allow me to clarify - my Dark Contracts would inflict one thousand points of damage apiece during my Standby Phase and Caesar would do the same for each monster it revived last turn. But no Standby Phase equals no damage."

"Leave it to you find a way around the rules." Andy muttered.

"Oh, the mighty Dragon Master disapproves of my dueling strategy. Whatever shall I do?" The Queen looked mock-frightened before laughing again as Andy's expression grew more dark. "I know, I'll use the effect of Dark Contract with the Gate to add another Nighthowl to my hand. And then I'll summon it."

The evil, oversized mouth reappeared and at the moment after, another Berfomet rose beside it. Then Flame Genghis raised his sword, and it glowed. "I'll use Genghis' effect to revive Gust Alexander!" In a swirl of fire and wind, the conqueror reappeared.

She held out a hand and three level stars appeared above Nighthowl. "I can use Berfomet's effect to alter the level of any other D/D monster in play and I'll make Nighthowl level four!" A new level star joined the three and then Beformet exploded into Synchro rings around the tuner. "Now I tune my two level four monsters together! Arise, D/D/D Cursed King Siegfried!"

Tattered red scarf and snowy-white hair billowing, a purple-armored warrior dropped from the darkness. He stood, brandishing the massive sword he had like it weighed nothing. (2800/2200)

Light shimmered next to her Contracts and resolved into a new spell card. "I activate Deceitful Dark Contract With the War God. Now I can reduce the attack of one of your monsters by one thousand and give one of my the same amount!"

Galaxy-Eyes roared in protest as its aura of light siphoning away, leaving it to drift low to the ground as Genghis roared to life with flames. (3000-2000) (2000-3000) "Now, Gust Alexander! Bring me that dragon's head!"

Perhaps angered by his forced betrayal on the previous turn, Alexander charged with a war roar. He moved with far more nimbleness than a man in armor should have been able to, leaping up and flipping to add momentum as he came crashing down for Galaxy-Eyes.

"Reverse card open!" Andy held out his hand, one his set cards lifted to reveal a quick-play card. "Power Lift! Now my Dragon's defense adds to its attack!"

"That's one of your rare magic cards you got from Arcadia...but it'll do you no good! Siegfried!" The purple monster stabbed out his sword, a burst of light from the tip slamming into Andy's card and shattering it. "Siegfried can negate a spell or trap once per turn as a quick effect!"

"No!" Andy felt a shadow fall over him, head lifting to watch Alexander come down. "Galaxy-Eyes!"

It was rather poetic an end for Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon - Alexander's sword sliced its head off before the larger monster could react. The corpse sagged to the floor, light pouring from the neck stump like blood. The light of its wings winked out and rather than burst into pixels, the dragon dissolved into motes of light.

Within seconds, thousands of the lights surrounded Andy like they were a swarm of fireflies. He grit his teeth as the backlash damage washed over him. _It hurts! Like I lost my head instead of my dragon. What is going on!?_

He pressed back against the pressure for a few moments, then staggered as it became overwhelming as the blue motes of light shone even through his closed eyes -

 _-and when caught himself, opened his eyes, he was no longer_ _dueling_ _. He was standing in front of prison bars that guarded a cell. The walls were bleak, black stone mottled with ugly purple and blue like bruises._

 _It was a cell that Andy_ _recognized_ _\- it was the cell he'd_ _been imprisoned_ _five years ago when he'd lost to the_ _Shadow_ _Queen._

 _His lips moved, his voice speaking words he hadn't thought of. "You still giving the silent treatment, Iris? Or you_

 _finally_ _enough swallow enough pride to talk?"_

 _Movement stirred in the cell,_ _peel_ _ing_ _away the shadows_ _as Iris stepped forwards. Even bereft of clothing, with her skin covered in bruises and scars, the_ _endless_ _mass of blonde hair_ _knotted and tangled_ _, she still looked beautiful. But it was a hollow beauty, the way an_ _ancient_ _, dying tree could be beautiful. Gorgeous rot._

 _Blue eyes, faded as they were with_ _pain_ _and exhaustion, regarded him with cold regalness._

" _Right. Still trying to pretend you're in charge." Andy shook his head as those blood-red lips thinned in a_ _frown_ _. "Haven't you had enough suffering yet? Or are you happy being Queen of your chamber pot?"_

 _More silence._

" _Suit yourself." Andy shrugged in a non-committal fashion. "You'll be in here as long as you want to be in here, Iris. The door's open if you're willing to change. But if you aren't, then nothing will happen except you sit in there and days go by."_

 _Still more silence. Andy sighed to himself. Even defeating her five years ago, she'd never accepted it. Just doubled-down on her pride, her dwindling power and resolute desires to be free. As if Andy defeating her wasn't the end of her crazy plan._

 _And those tired eyes, worn as they were, said she still would not accept it. Not now, not any of the other of dozens of times he'd been down here. And not when he came again for another time._

 _Sometimes he wondered why he bothered. Falgar had said their mission was to guide the_ _Shadow_ _Queen to redemption, but he'd been vague about the 'how'. It wasn't like a few_ _counseling_ _sessions was going to crack that_ _thousand-years_ _shell of power-lust and arrogance._

 _"Stay here and rot, then." Andy turned to go, pausing when he heard her shackles clank._

 _"You are wrong. Lyrius will come for me."_

 _They were the first words she had spoken since her imprisonment just over a year ago. Even through the roughness of disuse and the_

 _tightness_ _of_ _pain_ _, they were still_ _a proclamation from_ _the_ _Shadow_ _Queen. As large and unshakeable as the mountain they were standing under._

" _That's right, your little boy toy is still free." Andy studied her reaction to his next words with care. "Or at least, he was."_

 _She had a brilliant poker face, he had to admit. But that just made it even more satisfying to watch as he reached into his pocket and pulled out the necklace._

 _It was cracked_ _and chipped, blood staining the links of the chain. And dangling in the loop was a of twinned black-gold rings._

 _Her face grew taunt, tight with shock and then tighter still with a refusal to believe._

 _"You're carved from stone, aren't you?" He shrugged and twirled the necklace on a finger; watching as her eyes tracked each rotation. "He came for you, though. Moved through the Palace like a_

 _ghost_ _. At least until he ran into Fran and I."_

 _Iris did not respond, eyes never wavering from the_

 _jewelry_ _._

 _"It was his own fault,_

 _really_ _. He called up a Darkness_ _Game_ _. And lost." Andy stopped the necklace, studying it. "It's his blood. Wouldn't stop fighting, right until the end. I didn't want to kill him, but he didn't leave us much choice."_

 _No response from the former Queen._

" _It's your own fault. Both of your own faults. I don't know how either of you got out of the Abyss, but hey, you had a_ _thousand years_ _to think of something. And when we found you, we took you in, offered you a chance to help us fix Arcadia and make up for all the sins you've committed." Andy shook his head again. "But I suppose a tiger can't change its stripes. You spat on our kindness and it got your 'beloved' killed."_

" _You've called me a_ _monster_ _since you beat me five years ago, Andy," She_ _bite_ _out the words. "Yet you're the one who is smiling over admitting you killed my husband."_

 _"What did you just say?" Andy gawked at her, anger flushing his face._

" _You come here, saying you want to help me, that you want for things to be better. But I think you come here for yourself. To gloat, to_ _savor_ _the one victory you ever achieved and relieve the highlight of your life. Ignoring that you peaked as a teenager." Her tone was a brittle cold thing coupled with a sickly-sweet smile. "How is it, '_ _hero_ _'? Still just as enthusiastic and arousing as it was five years ago? Do the people still celebrate your victory with parades? Or are you forgotten as they try to move on past me - and you?"_

 _"I liked it better when you were silent." Andy growled under his breath._

" _Why? Am I making sense?" Iris sneered. "I wonder, did you enjoy killing Lyrius? Did it make you smile like when you defeated me?" She laughed. "Or was it a smile in relief, knowing there was one less_ _monster_ _in the dark to keep you awake at night? Just like you come down here to make sure I'm still in this cell. So that Arcadia's big, brave_ _hero_ _isn't a_ _sniveling_ _, scared little boy jumping at shadows and sleeping with the_ _light_ _on!"_

" _Shut up!"_

" _Make me, 'hero'!" She fired back, drawing herself up. "Unless your duel against me was a fluke!"_

 _Andy tossed the necklace aside, kicking open the cell door open. It knocked her prone, Iris letting out a pained groan. But that did nothing to quell his rage, and he stormed inside-_

"Gust King!"

Pain sprouted over Andy's chest and yanked him back to the reality of the duel, a defensive swipe of his Duel Disk missing as Alexander leapt back to the Shadow Queen's field. Then Siegfried was on him, crisscrossing with Alexander's blow to leave him reeling. (ALP: 7500-4700-1700)

"You bitch…" He spat the words, drawing strength from his ire to breathe through the pain. "What did you do to me?"

"I gave you a gift." She matched his glare with a razor-edge smirk. "In this duel, when the monster representing your heart is slain, that wound bleeds into the Darkness Game. The Darkness Game reads the depths of our hearts; even the things we ourselves do not truly know. And then it shows an alternate reality that matches those feelings."

"So, you have the power to do anything in this realm for the game...and you choose it to show me a bunch of 'what-ifs'." Andy lifted himself, shaking his head. "I'd say you're more than a few screws loose, but there was nothing holding your sanity together to begin with!"

"'Of all the words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these: It might have been.' A lovely quote, don't you think? And if that vision was anything to go by, you have some hang-ups about that catastrophic loss five years ago." The Queen smirk was lethal. "Though, from the looks of things in that timeline, that Andy isn't succeeding much despite his win, either."

"Says the woman who was in prison! For nothing more than her ego!"

"Even so, that was rather startling from a self-professed 'hero', if you ask me. Losing your temper at an unarmed prisoner. What do you think that Andy would have done once he was inside that cell, hmm? Something painful? Something pleasurable?" The Queen gave him a few knowing chuckles with half-lidded eyes. "I'm sure beating the source of your joint fears would have been both for you, Dragon Master."

"Play the mind games all you want, Iris, the won't stop me from beating you!" The look in his eyes matched the fierceness of Andy's words.

"If that is true, then why are you so angry? Is it at the disgust of that other Andy giving in to his rage...or is it aimed at your jealousy of him?" The Queen smirked as Andy snarled at her. "Ah, yes, you said my mind games won't work on you. So how about my Duel Monsters? Wave Caesar, direct attack!"

"Those first two hits were cheap shots, but I'm ready for you this time! Reverse card open! Respite!" A barrier sprang up in front of Andy, the scrap of Ceasar's weapon over the magic echoing in the darkness. "You just took away half of my life points, so now not only can I not take anymore damage this turn. But I draw until I hold five cards, too!"

Then Queen pursed her lips, a light sigh escaping her. "You always were the lucky one of the three. But I am more than prepared. In my Main Phase 2, I activate the effect of Dark Contract with the Swamp King to fuse Siegfried and Caesar together to summon D/D/D Oracle King D'arc!"

Her two monsters melted into darkness that twisted together before resolving into a French chevalier armed with a rapier and a demonic cast to an otherwise handsome face. (2800/2000)

"But why stop there - with my level six Alexander and Genghis to Xyz Summon D/D/D Horde King Shaka Zulu!" Unusual for this summon, the two named monster exploded into dust. The mass pulled itself together into a rough-hewn dark humanoid. The remaining dust became a jagged spear and the new conqueror produced a cow-hide shield to complete his ensemble. (2000/2000)

"I believe this solidifies my defenses, so I end my turn." The Queen folded her arms.

"Draw!" Andy did so and felt his heart settle at what he saw in his hand. _I just have to remain calm. Getting emotional and letting her get to me cost me the win last time. I can beat her - I will beat her!_

"Activate Monster Reborn!" A pillar of light erupted behind him, fading away to reveal the form of his new dragon. "Revive Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon!"

"And just what intentions do you have for that monster when it has no way to power its effect?"

"The same thing I always do with my dragons!" Andy held up two cards, revealing them to be Polymerization and Tyrant Dragon. "Fusion!"

The Queen's eyes widened as silvery light erupted from Galaxy-Eyes. It engulfed the Xyz monster, brimming with power and then pulled back in as the creature changed. _Impossible! He evolved a piece of the Arcadian dragon god! Just how powerful has he become over the last five years?_

" _The dragon filled with the light of destiny ignites into a blazing star of victory! Embody power, my servant, and descend now to become my herald! Fusion_ _Summon_ _! Level 8!"_ Andy threw a hand up into the air, the light around his dragon scattering apart. The new dragon took everything the Cipher Dragon had done and took it a step further. Its body did not appear to be even flesh and blood, just silvery light flowing and shifting in the shape of a dragon. The armor covered everywhere now, but blue had overtaken the red as an accent color while the wings shimmered as nebula cloud of pastels. _"Galaxy-Eyes Encoder Dragon!"_ (3500/3000)

The surrounding darkness seemed to shiver as light spilled off the new monster and despite the impossibility, it felt like it was trying to retreat from it. The Shadow Queen couldn't stop herself from taking a step back, but rallied enough to point at one of her Contracts. "I activate the effect of my contract with the War Deity! Your dragon loses one thousand points and Siegfried gains them!"

Andy smiled and his dragon roared. "Don't bet on it! I activate Encoder Dragon's effect! _Cipher_ _Conversion!"_

Light spilled out of the dragon's wings, washing over Siegfried. The warrior let out a startled noise as it swallowed him up, clearing to reveal a Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon. "I can turn any monster in play into a Cipher Dragon and because I did so, your Contract fizzles because you didn't target a D/D/D monster!"

He grabbed a card from his hand, smirking as his opponent gave him a frustrated look. "That's not all, Iris! Encoder Dragon lets me tribute Cipher Dragons from anywhere in play to use for my card effects! So I activate Advance Draw to draw two cards and tribute your level eight monster to do it!"

The converted monster vanished into sparkles of light as Andy drew two more cards and the Queen growled at him. "Not so fun when your opponent has the game-changing monster, is it? But let's keep things moving! Galaxy-Eyes Encoder Dragon, attack Shaka Zulu! _Brilliant_ _Light_ _Triumph!_ "

Light gathered in his monster's wings, the dragon's eyes shining bright as the power traveled up its neck and gathered in its jaws. Andy felt his own confidence rising and switched his gaze to the Queen, expecting to see her frustrated and defiant. Instead, all he saw was a cool, knowing smile and his heart sank. _Oh no-!_

"I activate Shaka Zulu's effect! By using an Xyz Material, I can force all of my Contract cards face-down and he gains five hundred points for each one!" The Queen's contracts all flipped themselves face-down and Shaka Zulu lifted his spear as his power rose. (2000-3500)

"Don't attack, Galaxy-Eyes!" But it was already too late to call it off - Andy watched as his dragon breathed a stream of silver-blue fires that washed over Shaka Zulu. They eroded the stone fiend away into dust, but not before his spear skewered the fusion's heart so hard the dragon went crashing into the ground behind him. It kicked up a cloud of shadow and light that swallowed up his vision. He wiped at it, trying to clear his eyes -

 _And as before, he was no longer_ _dueling_ _. Instead, he was staring at Fran as she twirled in a rather flattering emerald dress. She was frowning at her three reflections in a three-way mirror, smoothing the wrinkles of the dress. "What do you think of this one?"_

" _It looks good." Andy gave her a good-natured sigh as she turned to frown at him. "Don't give me that - it's true!"_

" _It can't be because you've said that about every dress I've tried on today!"_

 _"You look good in anything, babe. But if you're not happy in anything, you could go in nothing and look just as glamorous." Andy's cheeky suggestion and smile earned him a light smack in the arm. "Look, you can't pick, then just buy them all."_

 _"I can't do that," Fran glanced over at the small clothing rack parked nearby that creaked with the weight of all the beautiful dresses it held, "they're all expensive!"_

" _And we're rich, babe." Andy tapped the arm of the shades he was wearing. "If I can spend an easy thousand on a pair of sunglasses, you can spend that on dresses."_

 _"We still have college to pay for and the house-"_

 _Fran was silenced_ _as Andy put a finger to her lips._

 _"Fran, college is all paid up and we own the house. And the surrounding property._

 _We_ _have no_ _debt._ _We_ _'re good for money."_

 _"_

 _We_ _shouldn't spend it on frivolous things-"_

 _Andy looked mock-hurt. "So that lovely, pure diamond engagement ring I got you is frivolous?"_

 _Fran shook her head, unable to help her smile as she lifted her hand to display the ring on her finger. "_ _Of course not_ _. It's very special and important. I just...we're spending a lot of money and I'm worried we're going to look at our bank account one day and wonder where it all went."_

 _"Hey, hey, we've barely put a dent in our millions. And we're not being idle rich, either." Andy assured her, putting his hands on her shoulders. "I'm losing count of the tournaments we've won in the last few months, we've got people chomping at the bit to recruit us for the Pro Leagues and Arcadia has sent how many letters asking us to take part in their new tournament as reigning champions?"_

 _"All right, alright, I'll stop fretting." Fran sighed. "But all of that sounds like fun, not work."_

 _"Hey, we're lucky to have jobs we can love instead of just do." Andy smiled, leaning his forehead against hers. "And I'm lucky to have a fiance who I can have fun with while having fun."_

 _"That line is terrible."_

 _"But you're smiling."_

 _"Shut up and kiss me, you silly man." Fran leaned into him, arms slinking around his waist as his went around her neck and they pressed against one another before slipping back against the wall and down to the floor-_

The vision faded away, Andy staring at the space where it had been.

"I see. That was a world where you kept Cortez's treasure instead of giving it up at the end of the tournament." The Queen seemed amused at the vision's contents. "So you've some lingering regrets about being a good person and not giving into your greed."

"Don't oversell it - anyone who's hurting for money always things getting more is a good idea." Andy countered. "It means nothing!"

"Your lips say that, but your heart thinks otherwise. Unless you missed the engagement ring the Unicorn Maiden was wearing? I did not, very hard to with that massive diamond on it. And they look so superb together. I guess you _can_ buy happiness." She clicked her tongue. "Aren't you and the Maiden in this world having a rough patch? Globe-trotting getting no real jobs and living paycheck-to-paycheck causing trouble in paradise?"

"Do you ever shut up?" Andy hissed and grabbed a card from his hand. "I activate Return of the Dragon Lords! Be revived, Galaxy-Eyes Encoder Dragon!" Light pillared up behind him, scattering to release his mighty fusion. "I set two cards and end my turn!"

"I draw!" The Queen plucked the card free from her deck, a smile playing over her face. "You look so stressed, Dragon Master. Almost rattled. These glimpses in your heart making you uncomfortable with the truth?"

"At least I have one!" Andy fired back. "Lyrius keeps defending you and how much you loved him, but I know you well enough that it slants this little Darkness Game in your favor! Your heart is just a shriveled black lump!"

To his surprise, something akin to anger and hurt flashed over the Queen's face. "Lyrius said that about…" Her expression hardened as she caught herself, giving him a cool smile. "Let's put your little theory to the test. Why don't I summon the monster that represents my heart?"

She held up a spell card and it glowed with a sick black light. "I activate the ritual spell card Dark Contract With the Pleasure Lord!"

TTTTTTT

"Why are we following the man who just tried to kill us?" Fran demanded in a whisper. Her eye had been given fresh bandages and the adrenaline from the hummingbird ambush had chased away the lingering remnants of her pain. Curled up in Lyrius arms bridal-style, she was making up for her lost eye with an extra hard glare at Gospel's back.

"He did not kill us - he was trying to escape with my sword and only hijacked the bus that we were on. He only engaged in violence after recognizing me and Solex." Lyrius reminded her.

Fran's glare shifted to him, accompanied by an annoyed grunt. "You make it very hard to suspicious and angry being so practical."

"You're telling me." Solex was ahead of them, speaking over his shoulder. "Never go drinking with him. He sucks all the fun out of being drunk."

"For you, yes, because I keep you from embarrassing yourself by getting shot down by all the women in the bar."

"That's part of the fun of being drunk!"

"As fun as you two are, neither of you are answering my question," Fran interjected.

"I will explain all in just a moment," Gospel said in a patient, calm tone as if their suspicion and wariness was a byproduct of them having met walking down the street instead of life-or-death bus trip. "Ah, here we are."

He had led them into another apartment that looked as uninhabited as the others. A sofa had been covered with blankets and several soft looking pillows. There was also, to their surprise, some shrink-wrapped sandwiches and soda stacked on an end table alongside a First Aid kit.

"I'm okay, Lyrius." Fran protested as Lyrius laid her with care on the couch.

In response, Lyrius reached out and flicked his finger against her leg. She winced in pain, then growled at him before yanking one blanket over herself for a sulk

"I collected what I could from the clothing store but it caught fire," Gospel explained, standing near the little apartment's island counter. "I was not sure if any of you were injured, but considering we are trapped in this pocket dimension after such a violent crash, I felt it was a safe bet."

"Hey, no complaints from me," Solex said with a smile. Though he still had his gun drawn and was standing so that there was a clear shot between him and Gospel, with enough distance that the vampire couldn't just lunge at him or Fran without getting shot. "It's kind of nice when psychos who try to kill me remember their manners."

Gospel just bowed his head. "I apologize, Mister Delamare. I was not in my right mind."

Lyrius half-listened to the pair talk, leaning near one window to peer outside. They were further down the street, on the fourth floor. The Darkness Game was still talking place a building down and at the other end of the street, the fighting against the undead and Grave Behemoth was still raging.

Satisfied they were at least safe from the external threats, he turned his attention back to the room. "Why are you helping us now, Gospel? And why do you appear more coherent than you were on the bus?"

"I shall answer the second question first." The priest pointed to Eiliastraee's moonmoth which was still circling his head and sprinkling him with motes of light. "The light your divine gift gives off burned away the last of the spell controlling me and helped me regain my wits." An easy smile came to his face. "Or lack thereof, I am terrible at telling jokes."

"Oh, you were under _mind control_." Sarcasm was heavy on Fran's disbelieving tone. "How very convenient!"

"No, no, that fits." Solex didn't look bothered as she gave him a look. "The reports I got from the drakeweed sellers all mentioned how he couldn't seem to focus for over five seconds, was very impatient and aggressive. He took every opportunity to sermonize them."

"And that proves he was under mind control?" Fran scoffed. "And not just being an insane fundamentalist?"

"It does when you add in the fact he was proselytizing at Solex during their engagement on the church and after his near-death at Dracula's hands, his second appearance on the bus was far more subdued even when he recognized Solex and I. His normal personality was reasserting itself." Lyrius gave Gospel his full attention. "Not that it gives us reason to trust him."

In response, Gospel reached behind him to the counter and pulled out a small scroll. He nodded at Lyrius, then tossed it to him. Lyrius unrolled it, dark eyes scanning it. Then he slit his fingertip open with one of his teeth before wiping it along the bottom. "We may trust him."

"What the- did that scroll make you crazy, too?" Fran asked, then yelped and scooched backwards as the scroll ignited and burnt to ash in Lyrius' grip. "What the hell?!"

Solex whistled, a new respect entering his face. "That was a _geass_ not to hurt us, wasn't it?"

"Yes." Gospel confirmed, clasping his hands in front of himself. "Time is short, and we are threatened on all sides. I felt it prudent to ensure we waste no time not trusting one another."

"I still don't!" Fran huffed, glancing at one of the other two men in the room. "Can someone explain this to me, please!"

"A _geass_ is a binding magical contract. If he tries to void the terms of it and hurt us, it will cause his blood to catch fire. And you cannot enter a _geass_ contract with false intent." Lyrius said, his eyes narrowing. "Being a vampire explains how you survived the wounds Dracula dealt you, being a priest explains how you healed them. Now tell me how you know of me and what your involvement in this madness surrounding _Oblivion_ is."

"I am a member of Silent Chorus, a family dedicated to defeating and stopping the evils of the world that are overlooked or hidden. I know of you, Lyrius, as much of our father's focus has been on the island of Arcadia and the Shadow Queen. After her defeat, we have become very busy dealing with the fallout. Retrieving Arcadian artifacts is one such way we do and once we learned of _Oblivion_ , they sent my team and I to retrieve it."

"Your team?" Solex asked. "You mean, you came with a bunch of other priests?"

"No, just my brothers and sisters." Gospel gave a somber nod towards the window. "The four aasimmar you see fighting out there."

They all glanced at the window, then Lyrius turned back to face him with a tight, wary expression. "Half-angels and a priest...your father is Karlel."

Gospel inclined in his head in agreement, while Solex and Fran exchanged confused looks before the Sun Elf raised his hand. "Hey, Lyrius, don't do that thing where you're all vague and mysterious. Use your mouth for more than being an Etch-a-Sketch, yeah?"

"You both know how Iris bedded six different species to produce the current generation of Shadow Spawn?" Lyrius didn't wait for them to answer. "Karlel was the archangel she seduced to produce Melissa."

Fran gaped. "But Merlow told us he was the only one of her husbands who escaped. He returned to Heaven."

"No, my father did not return to the Lord's side." Gospel held up a hand to ward off the questions they were already opening their mouths to ask. "There is not time to explain everything, nor is all of it relevant. But in the twenty-two years since Melissa was conceived, my father has been on this planet. Doing good where he can, saving those in need and founding the Silent Chorus."

"And getting busy with the locals." Solex piped up. "Producing a quartet of baby half-angels with humans. That doesn't sound like anything an angel would do."

"Karlel's encounters with Iris changed him." Lyrius said in a quiet tone. He could feel Fran's and Solex's questioning looks, but did not elaborate further.

"As they changed me and my siblings." Gospel said with a low sigh. "We were scouting the Shadowkind Underworld here in Vegas when we ran into her. We engaged her, but she was more powerful than we thought and had the help of hired mercenaries. Once she was done defeating us, she cast spells on us to control our minds."

Lyrius grimaced and Solex winced. Fran glanced between them, once again annoyed to feel left out of the conversation. "Why is this so bad? She stuffed like this during the tournament. It never seemed to stick and now we've got actual magic on our side. We can fix it."

"Aasimmar, my dear, are resilient to the effects of mind-altering powers." Gospel expression fell. "To gain the full control over us, she desired, the spells she used were comparable to breaking into a house with a sledgehammer. My siblings no longer have wills of their own."

"Then how are you still...sane-ish?"

"aasimmar are resistant and if you add a vampire's resistance to control, it is next to impossible to control someone like me with spells without reducing me to a husk. The most she could do was force me to seek _Oblivion_ above all else." Gospel informed her, but was interrupted as Solex popped a can of pop.

Ignoring the looks everyone else was giving him, the elf drained the can in one wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Sorry, but I needed a bracing drink. Because you just seemed to tell me there's an archangel on earth, having half-angel children and turning them into _vampires_."

"Lacking in nuances about the Silent Chorus, but yes, that is a rough summation of my father's plan." Gospel agreed with a nod.

"I thought vampires and religion didn't mix." Fran put in. She was sitting up, the way her hands knotting the blanket meant she was grasping the implications of Solex's statement. "And you do not get more religious than an angel."

"Religion is a mortal invention, not a divine one. It comes from the heart and soul. One's physical being does not lock them in or out of any faith, whether they are vampires, demons or devils." Gospel touched his white collar. "I am an ordained Catholic priest and I was a vampire when I became so. Haven't burst into flames yet."

"What of your siblings out there?" Lyrius pointed out the window. "Why are they not vampires like you?"

"They are not of age for our group, so they have not undergone the vampirization." Gospel's face fell again. "And now they never will."

There were many questions badgering in Lyrius' head for answers. Just why would Karlel remain on Earth to found a group of apparent do-gooders? How many people were in Silent Chorus and how many were Karlel's direct children? How many had undergone the vampirization? But he pushed them all aside in favor the most pressing one. "Why help us now, Gospel?"

"Beyond being the right thing to do, it is the fact our goals now overlap - the defeat of our enemies and the retrieval of _Oblivion_." The priest said. "With the added caveat of freeing my siblings of their mind control in the bargain."

Solex shook his head. "And just how do you think we do that? You and Fran are in no shape to fight and Lyrius and I don't have the equipment to fight an undead army of animals."

"Nor do I possess the skills to free your siblings from the Shadow Queen's control." Lyrius put in, shaking his head. "Our best strategy is to wait until the Darkness Game finishes, retrieve Andy and the sword and leave. Even if we do not get _Oblivion_ , our combined strength should be enough to breach the barrier."

"That undead army will overrun us before we could get close to the edge." Gospel returned. "No, you must defeat them, Lyrius, here and now."

"Why me?" Lyrius regarded the vampire-priest with a wary look.

"It must be you because you have two Arcadian Dragon cards in your possession," Gospel said. "If we could manifest them in this world, they could be enough to defeat our enemies -" He broke off as Lyrius shook his head.

"Summoning them like that is no mean feat and I could do it with blood magic - if I were to kill all three of you here." Lyrius paused, glancing back out the battle. "The only other way is to take the Millennium Star from Weevil and use that."

"You mean that little twerp riding the undead hill giant's shoulder and battling four other aasimmar armed to the teeth with weapons and magic? Surrounded by a mindless horde of undead animals and guarded by a lich?" Solex sighed at Lyrius' nod. "Well, that's a lovely plan. What could go wrong?"

TTTTTTT

"My turn begins! Draw!" Serenity drew and held up the card. Shackles flew out of the darkness, snaring Feral Slash's wrists and neck. The monster roared and strained against the chains, but to no avail even as they forced him into a kneeling position with his head bowed. "The card Tragedy destroys one monster you control!"

"What-!" Joka protested, but it was useless as his monster's struggles. Light flashed above their heads and then a guillotine came slicing down to remove Feral Slash's head from his shoulders. His frame rattled as he powered up another rant. "No fair! That's not a tragedy, that's a goddamn cheap shot! Where in the hell are you getting these cards? I was just getting to the good stuff-"

He paused as Serenity slapped down a new card onto her disk. Her new monster was a brown puffball with stubby green hands and legs and adorable eyes. "-And you must have been hitting the hard stuff to be playing that hairball!"

Kuriboh chirped in anger at the insult and growled. (300/200)

"I equip Kuriboh with Ancient Mystic Lamp." The little fiend broke off its glare as a lamp as large as it was appeared in its hands. It looked ordinary enough and with a curious noise, Kuriboh rubbed its side. An appreciative noise of awe escaped as green smoke poured from the end to resolve into a green genie. "And this allows me to summon La Jinn the Mystical Genie of the Lamp. (1800/1000)

"Heh, I prefer my genies in blue!" Joka rattled out. "Does he give three wishes?"

"Sure he does, Joka, and they all involve attacking you! _Genie Fire Burial!_ " La Jinn sucked in air, swelling like a green balloon before spewing out a wave of flames that swallowed Joka up. (JLP: 7800-6000)

"Psh, not even a scorch mark!" Joka patted the embers out on his body as the attack died away, cocking his head. Lifting his leg, he stared at the fact Kuriboh had seized his lower leg and was gnawing away at it with fury of a starving man attacking a roast. "Get off me, you little rodent!"

He shook his leg, but Kuriboh just growled and gnawed harder. "Off! Off! Off! Off! Off!" With an extra hard kick, he sent the puffball soaring back to Serenity's field...along with his lower leg. "God _dammit_! Last time I buy cheap!"

Kuriboh held up the leg, then banged it on the ground a few times. Joka's eyes flashed. "Hey hey, whaddya doing!? That's important!"

The fiend just chirped in a very obnoxious tone, then chuckled the leg back at its owner where it clanged off his head. (JLP: 6000-5700)

"Good boy, Kuriboh, good boy." Serenity smiled like a proud dog owner, hand on her hip. "Next turn, we'll go for his head."

"Not if I take yours first, toots!" Joka ripped his next card off his deck, flipping it around. "I activate E-Evolved Heroics! Now I can add an E-Hero and Dark Fusion to my hand, so come to poppa!"

Serenity pointed drew as well while Devil's Toll glowed. "I get to draw, so thank you."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Joka grabbed another card. "But you won't be drawing from this! Fusion Recovery does what it says and recovers cards I spent on a fusion summon! I'll pick up Sparkman and good ole Poly back!"

Adding the cards to his hand, he scratched his cheek and then shrugged before tossing one down. "You got monsters and I ain't got none, so I special summon Evil Hero - Inferno Prodigy from my hand." Lanky and angular with spikes and demonic features, the little demon was smaller than even Serenity. (900/0)

Then he vanished in sparkles of light as Joka played another card. "But I hate kids, so I'll be poppin' off my little sproglet for someone who's a lot more my speed! Evil Hero - Soul Guise!" Tattered rags, scraps of clothing and more flew out of the darkness. Stained with blood and ichor, they sewed themselves together into the ragged shape of a demonic man. Then they all solidified, become hard and flesh-like; to the point blood leaked out between the stitches. Lifting a sightless void of a face, the monster grinned at Serenity. (1900/1600)

"But hey, let's give this teamwork thing a try! Go, Dark Fusion!" Sparkman appeared above him, alongside the blocky body of Clayman. They vanished, lightning renting the space in front of Joka to allow a massive hero shoulder his way free. With angular lightning bolts decorating his armor and a nasty-looking energy core in his chest, he was steampunk's idea of an anti-hero. "The hero who eats lightning and craps thunder, Evil Hero - Lightning Golem!" (2400/1500)

"He looks to better built than you, Joka." Serenity mocked up a purr of delight, one hand trailing down her side. "Now that's a _real_ robot…"

"Nnrr, shut up!" Joka stamped his foot and pointed at Soul Guise. "Since I got a Fusion Monster, he lets me revive one component! Get out here, Sparkman!" A portal opened on the ground, allowing the spandexed hero to flip out in dramatic fashion. (1600/1400)

Thunder Giant cupped his hands in front of his chest, sparks flickering there before they became a crackling sphere of yellow and black power. "This big lug can roast any monster on the field I want! _Voltic_ _Ball!_ "

Serenity and Kuriboh braced themselves as the blast slammed into La Jinn, scattering the genie into burning green wisps. Then the duelist pointed at Kuriboh, who was already rubbing the lamp in a panic. "As long Ancient Mystic Lamp is in play, La Jinn cannot die!"

"What!" Joka's eyes grew redder as the genie reappeared. "That's total bull! Thunder Giant, roast that puffball! _Hell_ _Lightning_ _!_ "

Kuriboh squeaked in a panic as the blast shot towards it, holding the lamp up like a shield. Then the attack took a ninety-degree turn, smashing into La Jinn instead. Breathing a sigh of relief so hard its fur rippled, Kuriboh rubbed the lamp again and La Jinn emerged once more.

Serenity laughed as Joka spluttered in frustration, waggling a finger. "As long as Kuriboh holds the lamp, it will redirect everything you try to do to the genie."

"Then why didn't your life points drop?"

"That's because after you destroyed him the first time, I revived La Jinn in defense mode." Serenity tutted. "Maybe you should have Thunder Giant zap you next turn, get some electricity flowing through that excuse of a brain you have."

"Yuck it up, toots, I'll pay you back for each insult but good!" Joka growled. His Duel Disk beeped to signal the end of his turn and he drew. "Oh yeah, guess that little brat was good for something. If I tribute summon him, I get to draw at my End Phase."

"That means I do." Serenity drew for her trap's effect, then for the start of her turn. And slid the new card into her graveyard. "I discard Kuriosity to add a 'Kuriboh' related card from my deck to my hand."

A new Kuriboh appeared, wearing a deerstalker hat and wielding a magnifying glass. A pipe poked out from its fur covered body, puffing away as the Kuriboh scrutinized the original under its magnifying glass. The original puffed up its fur at the attention. Then Kuriosity puffed a little too hard on its pipe, an ember flying out to land on its own fur. It ran away hollering into the darkness as it ignited.

Joka watched it go. "You know, I bet anything there's someone at Industrial Illusions who gets a serious hard-on programming these freaking dustrags."

"Pity you don't like them because you're about to see a lot more of them." Serenity slid her new card into her disk. "I equip Kuriboh with Proliferation! Now I can summon Kuriboh Tokens equal to the number of monsters you control!"

Kuriboh glowed, spilling out three identical spheres of light that resolved into more Kuribohs. They all glanced at each other, then the original held up its lamp with a dramatic squeak. The other three crowded around, a respectful 'oooh' and 'aww' emanating from the fiends. (300/200x3)

"Aww, gimme a break!" Joka snapped, folding his arms. "I've hacked up hairballs that were more impressive than these dust bunny rejects! Christ, I'd barf up my lungs at how cute and adorable this is if I still had any!"

The Kuribohs heard him, all of them swiveling to fix him with little grows and angry eyes. "Oh, yeah, I'm real scared - that I might step on you little fuzzy punks by accident!"

He watched as the Kuribohs shuffled around Serenity's field, arranging themselves so that stood on the left of La Jinn, the other three on the right with the one with the lamp on the end. And it was holding the lamp out at an odd angle. Joka cocked his head. "That almost looks like...hey, they're flipping me off!"

"The Darkness Game makes everything more real, remember." Serenity smirked as Joka rattled off insults under his breath. "While you're busy arguing with Kuribohs, I'm going to play Polymerization and fuse La Jinn together with the tokens."

The genie melted into a green mist that obscured the tokens from view. Then it swirled together into a tornado that switched from green to blue. It settled into a monster resembling La Jinn, but alongside the new color it had gained a jewel-studded vest, turban and an impressive curly mustache. "I fusion summon Great Djinn of the Ancient Lamp! Now he gains Wish Counters equal to the number of materials I used for him and they each boost his attack by eight hundred!" (0-3200/0)

"Oh, crud." Joka grimaced at the sight of the monster's score. "I guess that cloud grants some big wishes…"

"I'm just getting started - I reveal my set card, Energy Drain!" The card lifted, Serenity snapping up a new card from her deck. "Not only do I draw once, one monster you have has its attack score set to zero!"

Soul Guise writhed as Serenity's card sucked the energy out of, blood spurting from the stitches around its body as it slumped over into a near-shapeless pile of rags. (1900-0)

"Then I summon Fusion Devourer!" A disgusting, slithering sound of flesh on flesh came out of the darkness. It stemmed from a teeming mass of thick gray things spilling out of a round ball-like head. Each of the gray things was tipped in a face screaming in agony. (1400/1200)

"Ugh, reminds me of some squid I had once…" Joka grunted. "About as wet, too."

Serenity lifted her hand to point across the field. "Battle! Kuriboh attacks Soul Guise!" Kuriboh shot forwards, beating the collapsed pile of rags with its lamp so that blood gushed from the damaged stitches. Then the Evil Hero burst into pixels. (JLP: 5700-5400)

"Fusion Devourer attacks Thunder Giant, reducing his attack to zero!" The gray tentacles shot forwards, each screaming face latching onto the golem and ripping hunks out of him like he was candy. He crumbled, energy core whining in feeble warning before he exploded into hunks. (JLP: 5400 - 4000)

"Geezus, toots and people say _I'm_ messed up!" Joka ducked flying pieces of his monster. "Your monsters got issues!"

"The only issue they have is you're not screaming enough!" Serenity snapped her fingers, Great Djinn inhaling air as it loomed over Sparkman. _"Genie Inferno Cremation!"_

The genie's flames, now white-hot, incinerated Sparkman to ash before he could even raise his arms to defend himself. As the flames died away, bits of the hero drifted over the playing field. Joka huffed in amusement, folding his arms. "Hey, I like how you think, red! You up for some banging?" (JLP: 4000-2400)

"Only if I have sledgehammer." She pointed at her genie and he boomed a laugh, holding out his hands. In a flash of light, a gold coin appeared in his hands. He flipped it over to Serenity and halfway there, it became a Duel Monsters card. "By removing one Wish Counter, I can use the wish of wealth draw one card." (3200-2400)

Joka's arm beeped, and he cracked his knuckles. "All right, if you don't like me greasing your wheels, then I'll just hafta to get rough with ya! I draw!"

TTTTTTT

 _A/N: __Pushing even further to the climax, folks. Sorry I had to split this into two chapters, but this was already getting out of control sizewise. I promise it will be worth the wait._

 _Two notes about some things I couldn't work into the chapter proper:_

 _1\. Serenity only has one copy of her 'Virus' monsters in her deck, barring Spellplague itself. Her deck was an Eliminator deck, designed for a gimmick and presentation over effectiveness. Hence the generic fiend support she has and only her Wheeler luck let her play straight Viruses in her previous duels._

 _2\. Gospel can wield Oblivion thanks to a temporary blessing from the Shadow Queen, but doesn't remember it because of how she twisted his mind._

 _Next chapter, our two duels reach their climaxes as Serenity digs deep to combat Joka's Evil Heroes and Andy's shining Galaxy-Eyes Encoder Dragon illuminates the hidden desires in the Shadow QUeen's heart. Meanwhile, Lyrius and company enact their risky plan to relieve Weevil of the Millennium Star and, Lyrius learns somethings startling about the dragons he wields!_

 _Next Chapter - Vegas: All In!_


End file.
